The long list of crashes that transpired at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday lead to an equally long list of medical updates from the teams and riders. Many confirmed they were only nursing minor injuries but others were not so lucky, with Tim Wellens and Ben Turner among those with fractures.
UAE Team Emirates confirmed that Wellens – who was among those that came off in the large crash sparked by Filip Maciejuk (Bahrain Victorious) – broke his left collarbone and would undergo surgery.
“Collarbone in 4 pieces. A lot of pain, but should already be much better in a few days,” Wellens said on Twitter (opens in new tab) early Monday while also thanking those who sent messages and the hospital workers in Oudenaarde & Herentals.
Ineos Grenadiers also confirmed on social media that imaging at a local hospital had revealed that Turner had a radial fracture to his left arm after being caught up in the large crash.
Many other riders from across a wide array of teams were also caught up, with Bora-Hansgrohe also clearly visible among the first riders to be taken down. Still, that was just one of a number of crashes that took a toll during the day.
“It was a tough day for us. It’s not about complaining but when after 150km three guys are in the hospital it is difficult out there,” said Bora-Hansgrohe directeur sportif Rolf Aldag. “We wanted to take an offensive approach but simply had no options left after those crashes.”
The team had Danny van Poppel, Marco Haller, and Shane Archbold all abandon injured and said in medical updates (opens in new tab) that they had all suffered from contusions with Haller also sustaining a cut on the knee. Total Energies also had a long list of riders with contusions – Peter Sagan, Dries van Gestel, Thomas Bonnet and Sandy Dujardin – while Sagan also had a wound and Bonnet trauma to his wrist.
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty had a number of riders involved in heavy falls and said Aimé De Gendt fractured his left elbow and was heading into surgery while Taco van der Hoorn suffered a concussion and cut above his right eye but had left hospital but that was not where the team medical updates ended as Biniam Girmay was caught up in a crash with 70km to go.
“Medical examinations showed that Bini suffered a concussion but no fracture. He remains in hospital overnight for observation,” said the team in a statement on Twitter (opens in new tab).
Bahrain Victorious rider Matej Mohorič also was out of the race after being caught up in…
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