Horror crash at Itzulia takes out Tour de France contenders

Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič now face a battle to get their seasons back on track

The casualty list at Itzulia Basque Country last week read like a cycling's Who's Who. Tom Pidcock was the first to withdraw from the stage race, after crashing on a recon of the opening stage TT. The Ineos Grenadiers rider came off lightly though, and was able to start Paris-Roubaix. Others fared less well.

On a fast sweeping right-hand bend on stage four of the race, Natnael Tesfatsion (Lidl-Trek) lost control of his bike and slid out, creating a chain reaction behind which saw three of the biggest names in the sport hit the deck. It wasn't so much the initial impact which caused so much damage, but the concrete drainage ditch into which they slid at speed.