About an hour ago, on the 4th stage of the Basque Tour, a horrible mass crash happened in a downhill curve at the head of the peloton. I’m reporting this watching Eurosport and only have their information. The curve looked innocuously enough, the road was dry and there wasn’t much wind, but something not revealed yet (oil or diesel?) led to the crash of most riders at the head of the peloton, including all three big guns and favorites, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and the current leader, Primoz Roglic. What made it extremely nasty was that the crash zone had a lot of rocks and a wide cement drain pipe. It has been reported that both Evenepoel and Roglic suffered clavicle fractures, but at least there was footage of them walking and talking, while Vingegaard lay motionlessly in that drain pipe for several minutes before medical help arrived. It looked very bad for him, but in the meantime it was reported that he’s at least conscious again.
I’ve been following profi cycling for almost fifty years, but this was the most terrible crash I’ve witnessed. And I’ve never seen a crash that eliminated the three favorites of the race in one go.
ETA: here’s the story