E3 Harelbeke

Four Blues down at massive crash with 100km remaining; Andrey Amador suffers rib pain, will undergo checkups in hospital. Nelson Oliveira spends 120km into early break.

A pile-up with 100 kilometers to go in the E3 Harelbeke, the first WorldTour event on cobblestones in 2018 for the men’s Movistar Team, ended up with two thirds of the bunch down and severely conditioned the Chente García Acosta-led squad’s chances to go for a good result at the finish.

Four of the Blues -Mikel Landa, Carlos Barbero, Andrey Amador and Jorge Arcas- crashed into an incident only avoided by three of them: Nelson Oliveira, who was part of the early break; Jasha Sütterlin, riding at the front of the bunch in that moment; and Héctor Carretero, who also had to get a foot off the pedal.

Despite the blows and bruises, all Blues were able to continue and complete -except for Sütterlin- the 208km course in Flanders. The rider most hurt by the crash, Amador, suffers from rib pain which is pending further checkups in the evening at Gent’s University Hospital. Oliveira (32nd) was the first Movistar Team finisher behind the brilliant winner, Niki Terpstra (QST), after a long breakaway together with team-mate Yves Lampaert.

— Update, Saturday 24th, 8am CET: After radiological examinations undergone last night in Gent, Andrey Amador has been confirmed there are no fractures to his ribs. However, the Costa Rican has a significant costal contusion, which makes his appearance at Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem unconfirmed at this point.

Picture (c): Luca Bettini / BettiniPhoto.net