In the middle of Wednesday afternoon, the battered and bruised Criterium du Dauphine Peloton chose its way across the Stage 5 finish line yet little

cuts and bloody elbows, hips and legs appeared throughout the Peloton with a neutralized 20km run-in to St. Priest. It had been a long, uncomfortable and perhaps peaceful transition phase for riders rushing to complete the last part of what should have been.

The majority of riders were able to go straight to the team bus, and only race leader Lemco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and the other riders were headed for a secondary classification, directed at the ceremony of the shiny podium.

Three days of tough alpine riding are facing the Critérium du Dauphiné peloton, which is hardly ideal for those who came off the worst in the crash but managed to continue. But the question of what exactly happened with the latest mass crash to hit professional cycling this year, certainly goes on to come, too.

"Unfortunately, it's a pretty dark day for cycling, too," said the grim-faced Evenepoel, who has since made an impact on the sport in 2024. He told reporters in an unspoken mention about the crash. Some of their numbers, of course, have seen him break his collarbone and abandon the Ituria Basque country, but Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-rent a bike) or Jay

"Overall it's okay, I crashed on my right side. The helmet saved me today because I also crashed on my head. We hope that everyone will fully recover, because there are people who are in a worse situation than they are now," Evenepoel added.

Evenepoel did not know how the crash actually happened and said that the rider was fighting for the position of descent. But he knew he had an injured knee that would need to be checked as a result of a massive pile-up.

"The positive thing about my crash is that I don't have to leave the race, but I actually did a pretty big blow to my knee. Another bike came on my knee and it was pretty painful.

"But it was a bad situation for a whole bunch, so all my best wishes to everyone on the way to the hospital and a quick recovery." Unfortunately, it's a pretty dark day for cycling again."

"Everyone had that feeling - it's maybe a bit slippery," British national champion Fred Wright (Bahrain victory) added to ITV and other reporters about the massive pile-up that caused at least five abandonment.

"We were racing to the top of that climb to get into a good position, it was a straight road, but maybe a touch of brake, a bike going from under you...When it happens in front of you, there is not much you can do.

"It's a memory I'm going to keep for a long time, I was just sliding downhill, on my back, a good 300 meters, just sliding and not knowing where the bike is to stop.

"Well, it's pretty scary. A lot of people came down. So many people are down I think it was the right decision to neutralize.

Wright estimated that a "good 75%" of the peloton somehow got involved in the crash and the speed at which the bundle was moving was about 60 or 70kph. His own damage was mainly on his bike - he had to walk down the road to find and go back - and race shoes, but, like Evenepoel, he wanted a quick recovery to those who were not so lucky.He also knew that he had.

"I actually think about 50 riders got off," race director Thierry Guvenou told reporters at the finish. "And I know there are a lot of injured riders who need healing tonight."

Gouvenou confirmed that the key issue when it came to neutralizing the race was that there were not enough ambulances to continue the Peloton. The occasional heavy rain meant riders were expecting to wait until the ambulance came back, making the situation even more complicated. Then there was the fact that the stage was only 20 kilometers from the finish when the crash happened. Looking globally, interrupting the stage was the only option. Riders like Chris Froome (Israel Premiattech), who was the victim of a very bad fall just before the Critérium du Dauphine, spent time with the race organization's lead car and told what he thought. However, Gouvenou said that several riders, not just Froome, had expressed their opinion, but in any case, the race organizers and uci worked with the medical service to determine just 10 minutes after the crash happened. As Gouvenou said, "The crash had a huge impact on the race" and "our medical services were overwhelmed." It has been confirmed that 5 riders - Dylan van Baarle and Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-leasing bicycles), Laurens Huys (Arkéa-B&B hotel), Axel Mariault (Cofidis) and Rai Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious) - have so far been abandoned as a result of the crash. It goes without saying, however, that their number may rise well.

Questions about whether this latest crash was something that might not have needed to happen will continue to be discussed in the coming weeks. As Wright pointed out, the weather started to dry out but got wet afterwards, and one of the factors was that tire pressure may not have been set due to the less favorable conditions that started in the middle of the 167km stage. But with 1 rather than 2 crashes happening simultaneously in the straight, the obviously well-surfaced downhill section actually has a double mask crash before the full-on race resumes, as it Peloton temporarily neutralizes the day's break chase and goes down a windy and wet downhill.

"This could have been avoided'I don't know, probably not, maybe yes. It's a race situation," Evenepoel said.

"It was very slippery, so as soon as I put the brakes on it fell," Romain Combaud (team dsm-Firminich-PostNL) told cyclingpro and other media. "You can't blame the organization or the riders, you can't blame anyone," he said. It's just the road conditions themselves.

One of the first riders, noting that neutralization was necessary after the crash, Comba also praised the organization and the UCI for choosing to do this quickly, calling it a "wise decision." But this time he suffered only minor injuries, but Combe himself said it was impossible to personally avoid the idea of a previous serious crash at the Dauphine, where he broke his collarbone in Stage 2 last year. And, as he puts it, too, with a broad perspective on such a massive fall in mind, hopefully on what can be done about them

"They are part of [crash] cycling but are happening more and more often, so in the next few years, we will ask ourselves a good question." I have a question," he