"Falls are part of the job," says Ignatas Konovalovas

• Arnaud Démare's pilot fish in the Groupama-FDJ formation, Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas was involved in a massive crash during the first stage of the Tour de France.

• Hospitalized for eleven days, he has just returned to competition.

• If he assures that races are more dangerous today, he believes, however, that falls are part of the job.

If the suspense was quickly folded with the overwhelming domination of Pogacar, the Tour de France will still have offered a beautiful show this year with an infernal rhythm and sometimes dire conditions. The start in Brittany had also set the pace with three pretty crazy first stages. We will of course retain the master classes of Alaphilippe and Van der Poel at the peaks of Fosse aux Loups and Mûr-de-Bretagne. But the Breton getaway was also marked by falls galore in the peloton.

From the first stage, a good part of the riders had thus found themselves on the ground because of an imprudent spectator, the famous “Opi Omi” which will be judged this Thursday afternoon in Brest.

A few kilometers from the finish, another big fall had occurred, making the list of cripples even longer.

Seriously injured, the Lithuanian Groupama-FDJ rider Ignatas Konovalovas was forced to retire.

Two weeks after his return to competition, the pilot fish of Arnaud Démare returns for

on this terrible accident and gives his opinion on the growing danger of cycling races.

What memories

do you keep of this fall?

So to be honest, I don't remember it and I think it's not bad that way.

I have memories of the two or three kilometers before the fall.

And then I brake.

When I open my eyes, a lot of runners had already left.

I saw gendarmes and rescuers who were around me but I did not know what was happening.

It was only after, watching the fall on TV, that certain memories came back.

We were driving fast, at around 65 km / h.

A runner in front of me fell and after that it was the domino effect.

The Tour then stopped for you, from the first stage ...

I was hospitalized for eleven days because I had broken vertebrae and a large hematoma on my right thigh.

Suddenly, we say "shit"!

All this preparation for nothing at all, it's infuriating.

But after the disappointment quickly passed, there was nothing to be done anyway.

I just had to rest while watching the Tour stages from my hospital bed.

Just before

your fall

, there had already been one caused by a spectator carrying a sign.

You've lived

th

 ?

No.

At that time, I was leading the pack to protect David Gaudu.

I just heard that there had been a fall but did not understand everything at the time.

We know that it's the Tour de France and that there is always more nervousness in the peloton.

Your sports director Marc Madiot still gave a big rant after these repeated falls ...

He was right.

Because it's true that there were a lot of crashes at the start of the Tour.

More than in any race and even more than in previous years.

How to explain it?

Has the Tour de France become more dangerous?

So there have always been big falls and injuries in the Tour de France.

It is the biggest cycling race in the world.

There is a lot of stress because everyone wants to shine and be in front.

But that is not possible when there are more than 180 runners.

It is true that it is still more dangerous in recent years.

Why ?

I thought about it but I don't have an answer.

We have already reduced the number of runners.

We have also already tried without earbuds and that did not change anything.

There can also be accidents with spectators, but it is very rare and that is not the problem.

Personally, I just think that the Tour should start with a prologue or a team time trial in order to have a course a little less stressful.

Did you hesitate to get back on a bike after such a fall?

No, because I always wanted to be a cyclist.

I really enjoy it, even more now than when I was young and winning.

We know it's dangerous, but falls are part of the job.

I was unlucky on that one and voila.

Two and a half weeks after the fall, I took the home trainer again.

I resumed very slowly to restart the machine, it was hard because the muscles were no longer used to it.

But I had time to resume, it was done gradually.

Did your family try to convince you to give up?

My mom yes.

But that's normal, she's a mom.

My wife is a former cyclist and she understands that it is part of the job.

She only told me to analyze.

Because if you start to fall often, this is the signal that you are too old and that you must stop.

How was the recovery race on October 1 during the Route Adélie in Vitré?

It was already weird because I was resuming in October after three months of cut.

I felt like I was at the start of the season.

But it was good.

I didn't have a lot of fun because the weather was terrible, but I was already happy to be in the peloton.

I was a little apprehensive before the start, I did not know that they were going to be my feelings and if I was going to be afraid.

Since the roads were slippery, I didn't take too many risks and didn't want to go too far ahead.

I kept my distance and stayed calm and warm in the peloton.

You are 35 years old and you have just extended a season.

The last ?

It's not just up to me.

But personally, I would love to do one more year.

But if I see that I can't physically do it anymore, I won't push any more.

Sport

Taking care of human rights "is not within the remit" of the IOC, according to its vice-president

Sport

There will be a Ligue 1 day eight days before the start of the 2022 World Cup

• Fdj

• Cyclist

• Fall

• Tour de France

• Cycling

• Interview

• Sport

• Cycling