COMO, Italy (Reuters) – Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang raced to a solo victory in the Giro di Lombardia after race favourite Remco Evenepoel was taken to hospital following a frightening crash into a ravine on Saturday.
The Belgian prodigy went over a bridge barrier during a descent but was “alive and conscious”, Italian television station RAI reported.
“Remco Evenepoel has been tended to by the doctors and is now taken to the hospital with the ambulance,” his Deceuninck-Quick Step said in a statement.
Evenepoel, 20, already has nine wins under his belt this season, more than any other rider.
He was in a select group of leading riders when he crashed.
Astana rider Fuglsang went solo in the climb up to San Fermo della Battaglia and never looked back.
After 231km between Bergamo and Como, New Zealand’s George Bennett was second for Jumbo-Visma with Fuglsang’s team mate Alexandr Vlasov of Russia third.
The Giro di Lombardia usually takes place in October but moved to Saturday when the race calendar was redrafted after a four-and-a-half month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Clare Fallon