Team TotalEnergies rider Daniel Oss has been forced to retire from the Tour de France following an incident with a roadside spectator in yesterday’s cobbled stage to Arenberg.
The team confirmed his departure in a Tweet (opens in new tab) on Thursday morning. “Additional examinations revealed a fracture of a vertebrae requiring immobilization for a few weeks. Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France…” the team wrote.
Oss, 35, collided with the fan on the stage from Lille Métropole to Arenberg, which traversed eleven cobbled sectors along its route.
The collision occurred on sector 3, with Oss clipping the fan who had stepped slightly out into his path. Remarkably, Oss finished the stage, despite the accident.
Stage 5 was a day which saw a significant number of mechanical incidents and crashes. Oss is one of three riders unable to take to the start line in Binche, Belgium for stage 6. The other two forced to abandon were Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Jack Haig, one of a Bahrain Victorious’ leaders. Haig also crashed of the Tour in 2021.
There is limited information so far regarding the injury, however it is clear that Oss will be forced to spend a significant period away from the sport as he recovers. The loss will be felt by Peter Sagan, for whom the Italian rider is a key lieutenant.
The two made the move from Bora-Hansgrohe to TotalEnergies together, at the end of the 2021 season.
Les examens complémentaires ont mis en évidence une fracture d’une vertèbre cervicale nécessitant une immobilisation pour quelques semaines. Daniel Oss est donc contraint de quitter le Tour de France… 😢 Toute l’équipe te souhaite un bon rétablissement Daniel ❤️ pic.twitter.com/jGh0D2HOo7July 6, 2022
There have been a number of notable accidents involving roadside spectators in France in the past couple of seasons. In April, Yves Lampaert was brought down by a fan leaning into the road in the closing stages of Paris-Roubaix. At last year’s Tour de France, a fan holding a sign caused a crash involving the entire Jumbo Visma team. They were recently fined as a result of their actions.
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