Jumbo-Visma led the Vuelta a Burgos at full speed toward the sprint finish of stage 2 in Villadiego only to have their sprinter David Dekker crash and bring down a large part of the peloton when he lost control because of an elevated crosswalk, or speed bump, with 500 metres to go.
Not long after, Timo Roosen, Edoardo Affini and Chris Harper crossed the line for a Jumbo-Visma podium sweep but there was little to celebrate as dozens of riders behind were scattered across the road. All but 13 riders were given the same time as the stage winner because the fall was in the last 3km.
Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën) appeared to be one of the worst off after crashing into the barriers and having them come apart in the impact. He was taken to hospital, reportedly conscious.
According to an update from the French team, Touzé suffered head trauma and a concussion due to his crash. Teammate Clément Berthet fractured one of his fingers and needs surgery, so will not start stage 3.
Marc Sarreau – who also was involved in the infamous 2020 Tour de Pologne crash – suffered from light cuts and bruises and will continue in the race.
QuickStep-AlphaVinyl reported that Davide Ballerini suffered abrasions in several places and has a haematoma to his right gluteus, and they will re-evaluate his condition Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Jannik Steimle broke his right collarbone and will not continue to the race. The team confirmed he will travel to Herentals for surgery, and “no timeline has yet been set for his recovery”.
Orluis Aular is out with a fracture to his scaphoid bone, as well as his Caja Rural-Seguros RGA teammate David Gonzalez, who suffered a dislocated elbow. According to Bora-Hansgrohe, Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman came down in the crash but were only scraped.
Dekker quickly took to social media to explain what happened, writing: “I am OK considering what happened. Seems nothing is broken except my morale but I have a lot of wounds. I did not see the speed bump coming and with that high speed in a downhill section, I lost complete control. I sincerely hope everybody involved is OK and will recover soon.”
Affini expressed his anger after getting heat for celebrating the team’s victory amid the carnage. “Before everyone start writing bullshit on here, I want to make it clear. I was doing a full leadout effort. I have seen a teammate passing me with 200m to go and I celebrated, yes. I really didn’t have idea of the huge carnage behind us. I feel very sorry and sad…
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