Roglic and Wright in bizarre blame game

Injured Slovenian launches war of words

-  Vern Pitt, Tom Thewlis

Bahrain Victorious has pledged to "stand by" Fred Wright after Primoz Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team publicly blamed him for the crash that ended the Slovenian's Vuelta a España challenge.

Roglic had sat second overall in the Spanish Grand Tour prior to the incident, which saw him sent flying to the ground after a late collision with Wright on stage 16.

On Friday an article appeared on the website of the Dutch team in which Roglic directly called out Fred Wright, laying the blame for the incident firmly at the British rider's door.

Roglic said: "Not everyone saw it correctly. The crash was not caused by a bad road or a lack of safety but by a rider's behaviour. I don't have eyes on my back. Otherwise, I would have run wide. Wright came from behind and rode the handlebars out of my hands before I knew it."