The stage 16 of Tour de France was marked by a severe crash. Jens Voigt of Germany suffered a serious crash which led to a broken cheekbone and the rider crashing out of the race. The 37 year old renowned cyclist faced this almost towards the en
d of the stage. Things are not going well for the Saxo Bank team as Voigt would be their second team member (in the last seven days) to pull out of the race after previous crashes forced Andy Schleck and Kurt-Asle Arvesen to do the same. Bjarne Riis, the team’s director spoke about this to the media, he said, “I only saw him after the crash and he looked very very bad. It’s not nice to loose a rider like this, but these are things which happen in a race and you have to accept them. It is too early to say how bad his injuries are, I didn’t see the crash, I only saw the aftermath and it wasn’t good. I am just concerned with Jen’s health right now.”
Recent updates though have pointed out that matters could have been worse than they actually are right now for Voigt. Even Voigt himself has said in a statement to his fans and teammates, “I think I was very lucky not getting severely hurt from today’s crash.”
Voigt is very popular with his team mates for is amiable nature and positive perspective towards racing. Though a talented and veteran rider, he had been criticized for his skills on mountainous terrains. He came to the forefront when in 1994 he won the Peace Race and got the lead ranking in the UCI “Challenge Mondial Amateurs” rankings.
