The third stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour was neutralized Saturday following a massive crash on a narrow road just 10.9km into the 94.9km route around Zwevegem.
Four riders were taken from the location of the crash to the hospital, including French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health) and Silje Bader (team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
Bader was suspected of having a broken wrist, according to a team post on Twitter, while Cordon-Ragot avoided fractures and came away with bruising, according to a team report.
More than a dozen riders were involved in the crash, with many riders landing in a grassy ditch on the side of the narrow road. As medical vehicles stopped at the crash site, the peloton continued ahead but was stopped a few kilometres ahead.
There was a delay of about 50 minutes before the restart, as the four riders were taken to the local hospital and race officials waited for a new ambulance to arrive to accompany the peloton.
As adjustments were made for the restart, Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) addressed the peloton by saying “Everybody stay calm and [ride] safely”, according to a social post by race organisers.
Organizers shortened the stage by 28km, removing a local lap in Zwevegem, and the route completed with the first pass of the finish line. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the sprint to retain the race lead.
She now holds a six-second lead over Charlotte Kool (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) headed to the 11km individual time trial, also in Zwevegem, that will begin at 17:00 local time.
