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Fresh video reveals just how close Tadej Poga\u010dar came to catastrophe before somehow producing a jaw-dropping save in Tuesday\u2019s Tour de France time trial.<\/p>\n
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Roadside fans captured front-view images showing Poga\u010dar hurtling into the high-speed right-hand corner that put Florian Lipowitz on the ground and out of the race with a broken clavicle.<\/p>\n
The footage shows Poga\u010dar entering the corner slightly off the ideal line before clipping a small pebble that kicks his rear wheel off the pavement.<\/p>\n
In one split-second save, he feathers the brakes and threads his front wheel just inches from the concrete curb before regaining control.<\/p>\n
Another inch or two, and the Tour might have had a very different ending.<\/p>\n
A crash at that speed would have cost him minutes or even ended his Tour outright. Instead, Poga\u010dar escaped unscathed and carries a commanding overall lead into the race\u2019s final five stages.<\/p>\n
After the finish, a relieved Poga\u010dar admitted the corner nearly caught him out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen in one corner where Lipowitz crashed, in the recon there were some cars from the organisation so I didn\u2019t see that corner like I wanted,\u201d Poga\u010dar said. \u201cI almost crashed also, so I hope Lipowitz is ok and he will recover quickly. It is sad again to see one more GC contender out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage-winner Remco Evenepoel, who won the stage and solidified his grip on second place, said he had exactly the same scare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the same. There was an organization car or police car on the left, so we couldn\u2019t properly take this corner [during training],\u201d Evenepoel said. \u201cWhen you arrive in the race, the speed is completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was proof, again, of two things: how the Tour can turn in an instant, and just how absurdly good Poga\u010dar is on a bike.<\/p>\n
Just last week Poga\u010dar said he barely avoided a bouncing bid\u00f3n<\/em> while riding at around 60kph.<\/p>\n Going into Wednesday\u2019s stage 17, he insisted the Tour remains far from over despite a solid lead on yellow.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have quite a week ahead of us,\u201d Poga\u010dar said. \u201cI have a nice gap on my rivals, but you never know what may happen on a particular day. We now have to go with good confidence and morale into the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\nVideo from X<\/h2>\n