Classics favourite Fabian Cancellara’s chance of winning next week’s Paris-Roubaix has gone the same way as his Tour of Flanders ambitions, with a bad crash in the feedzone of today’s Classic putting paid to both of those goals.
Cancellara appeared to be riding well as the tough race progressed, but everything crumbled in a split second when he fell in the feedzone, approximately sixty kilometres from the finish.
Quickly attended to by RadioShack Nissan team-mates, who tried to help him up only to realize that his injuries couldn’t be shrugged of, Cancellara remained on the ground, lying flat on his left hand side. He was attended to by medical professional there, then taken away by ambulance to hospital in Oudenaarde.
His team has now confirmed the extent of his injuries, and it is clear that he will play no further part in the Classic races this spring. He has suffered a triple fracture of his right collarbone, which will require surgery to reset the bones and to aid their healing.
He is travelling back to Basel in Switzerland, where the procedure will be carried out. No estimation has been made of how long he will be out of action, but the injury will take some time to heal.
GreenEdge rider Sebastian Langeveld is also ruing his misfortune in today’s race. He collided with a spectator after taking to the path to try to move up in the bunch; he fell heavily, and also fractured his collarbone.
“It was a nasty-looking crash,” explained directeur sportif Matt White afterwards. “Sebastian was descending the Oude Kwaremont, so he was likely going somewhere between 60-80 kilometres/hour at the time of the crash. He hopped up on the bike path, and a pedestrian ran out in front of him. He hit the pedestrian and went straight over the handlebars at full speed.”
White said that he was waiting for full details from hospital, but accepted that the rider would be sidelined for some time. “We know that we’ve lost Sebastian for at least a few weeks. It’s a real blow. He would have been a leader next Sunday at Paris-Roubaix, and after Roubaix, he would have played an important role for Simone Gerrans in the Ardennes. We’ll need to come up with other options.”
Gerrans wants to perform as strongly as possible in the races ahead, particularly as Ronde Van Vlaanderen winner Boonen has taken over his top slot in the UCI WorldTour rankings.