Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Alpecin) will be out of action for an as-yet-to-be-determined length of time after a crash in the Classic Brugge-De Panne left her with a broken scapula.
The 20-year-old Belgian was part of the winning split when Alice Barnes (Human Powered Health) touched wheels and fell in front of her, leaving her no escape. De Wilde and Barnes both fell heavily and did not finish the race.
The riders were taken for scans where examinations revealed an undisplaced fracture of De Wilde’s right shoulder blade. Further exams are due on Friday to determine the next course of action. Human Powered Health did not post updates on Barnes’ condition at the time of publication.
Fenix-Deceuninck team director Michel Cornelisse expressed his dismay to Sporza. “The disappointment was great. Not only because we were well into the race with the team, but also because she knows that an important period is coming.”
Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) went on to attack from the lead group to win the race ahead of Elisa Balsamo and Lorena Wiebes.
On the men’s side, Trek-Segafredo announced that Dario Cataldo, who crashed heavily in the final kilometres of stage 3 in the Volta a Catalunya on Wednesday, underwent successful surgery in Girona to fix the fracture to the head of his left femur.
The injury is only one of many fractures the Italian suffered when a touch of wheels caused a chain-reaction crash that sent him into a traffic island.
Cataldo is in the intensive care unit under observation to decide if he needs surgery to repair fractures to his lumbar spine. He suffered several other broken bones, a collapsed lung and a broken left collarbone, but his spinal fractures did not have a neurological impact, according to the team.
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