Bora was happy with Schelling and worried about McCarthy

7th frenetic stage of the Vuelta

By Joachim Logisch

Jay McCarthy (Bora – hansgrohe) lies in a field near the road shortly after his fall. | Photo: Screenshot / Eurosport

28.10.2020 | (rsn) – The image was shown only briefly in the Eurosport broadcast. But it terrified viewers. A professional from Bora-hansgrohe’s team lay in a field about three meters from the edge of the road and a helper in a yellow safety vest leaned over him. How the victim had arrived was unclear.

It was Jay McCarthy, lying motionless on the floor and then had to be taken to the hospital. Fortunately, that night the green light came. “Jay is doing well under these circumstances. Head and spine injuries could be ruled out. Bone injuries could also be ruled out. However, he suffered a severe knee sprain, so a complicated knee joint ligament injury is assumed. An imaging evaluation is still pending, ”team doctor Jan Petersohn said in a press release.

While the German team worried the Australian, the new pro Ide Schelling led a strong race. The 22-year-old Dutchman joined the group of 34 breakaways of the day, with early riders Richard Carapaz and his team Ineos taking up most of the stage. In the final phase of the race there were attacks on the front, so Schelling also tried to break away from the group of leaders, which had become smaller and smaller.

Like Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and a few others, he didn’t run away until a five-man runaway group split, from which Michael Woods (EF) finally led as a soloist to stage victory. Eventually, Schelling crossed the line in eighth position, 13 seconds behind.

“We started with a breakaway group of 15 riders, which then grew significantly on the first climb. However, the group worked well together,” said Schelling, describing the initial phase of the breakaway attempt.

But he was denied great success. Schelling: “I felt good on the last climb and managed to stay in front. After that, five riders got away and we couldn’t catch them despite our good cooperation. I was close, but in the end I didn’t have good legs and at the I couldn’t fight more for the win. ”