Tour de France Femmes 2022: Marta Cavalli out of race after horrific Stage 2 collision involving Nicole Frain

Marta Cavalli (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) has abandoned the Tour de France Femmes following a crash on an incident-strewn Stage 2 of the race. Victory for Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and her seizure of the yellow jersey only told part of the story on a hard-hitting day for the peloton after a series of crashes left several riders battered and bruised. Ad/> What might have initially looked a relatively meek 136.4km flat stage from Meaux to Provins exploded into life with around 30km to go when the first set of riders went down.

/> Tour de France Femmes'This is the danger' — Several riders involved in TDFF Stage 2 pile-upAN HOUR AGO Soraya Paladin (Canyon/SRAM Racing), Ursa Pintar (UAE Team ADQ), Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) and Morgane Coston (Emotional.fr–Tornatech–GSC Blagnac) were among a group of riders to hit the deck in a messy collision although all were able to remount. Not long after, there was another heavy crash, this time involving Amanda Spratt (BikeExchange–Jayco) during which a slowing Cavalli took a vicious hit from a speeding Nicole Frain (Parkhotel Valkenburg) who had been desperately chasing the pack following the initial crash, seemingly unaware of the accident ahead of her. After being taken out, Cavalli lay on the road clutching her helmet and required attention but was thankfully able to eventually remount and finish the stage.

Speaking afterwards, team manager Stephen Delcourt confirmed that Cavalli was out of the race and gone to hospital to have her injuries seen to. «She hesitated and wanted to continue but the team said no,» he admitted. «We don't want to play with the life of a rider.