Remco Evenepoel has crashed hard on stage five of the Giro d’Italia, following an incident involving a dog in the road.
TV cameras suddenly cut to the Belgian world champion sitting on the floor at the side of the road. Evenepoel then took a while to get to his feet as teammates and Soudal – Quick Step staff gathered around him.
Replay footage soon showed what had happened: the peloton passing by in very wet conditions on the roads between Atripalda and Salerno, with the DSM rider leading the bunch warning his fellow riders that a dog was in the road on the left-hand side.
The dog then wandered further into the road towards the peloton, causing a Soudal – Quick Step rider to crash, his bike sliding out from under him on the road. Meanwhile, off camera, Evenepoel also hit the deck, spilling on to the side of the road on a rougher surface.
Evenepoel spent a while on the floor before slowly getting to his feet and back onto his bike.
After a few kilometres, Evenepoel looked to be more comfortable on the bike, shaking his head while talking to a race organiser’s car before giving a thumbs up to the TV camera and rejoining the peloton, in a sign of hope that the incident won’t derail his race.
Updates to follow…
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