Tour of Flanders crash: 'Awful' - Most of peloton wiped out in horror moment after Filip Maciejuk hits puddle

The majority of the peloton was wiped out in a horror crash at the Tour of Flanders after a rider hit a puddle and veered into his rivals. Polish rider Filip Maciejuk (Bahrain Victorious) was attempting to move up in the pack with 140km remaining by taking an off-road route but ran out of room, hitting a sodden grassy bank and careering into the bunch. Ad A concertina effect was sparked in the peloton, causing dozens of riders to hit the deck and sparking a shocking tangle of limbs and carbon fibre.

Ronde van VlaanderenExclusive: Gilbert ‘not sure’ about Van Aert’s chances at Tour of Flanders31/03/2023 AT 11:39 Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) were among the big names caught up in the carnage, while Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) was forced to abandon through injury. “That is bad. That is awful.

It’s not what you need,” said Adam Blythe on Eurosport commentary. “You can see the Bahrain rider moving up, realising he was running out of space, went into basically a swamp, back onto the road… bang. That shouldn’t have happened.” Alaphilippe was seen wincing as he shook his wrist following the crash, which also caught up Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies).

The crash was a big blow for Wellens’ team-mate Tadej Pogacar, who was left without a key lieutenant in his bid to unseat the fancied Van Aert and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Deceuninck). Maciejuk was disqualified for causing the crash. Tour of Flanders men's race LIVE — Van der Poel and Pogacar weather early pressure Tour of Flanders women's race LIVE – Can anyone stop Kopecky? — — - Stream the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk Ronde van