Training accident. Evenepoel, three fractures in a collision

Remco Evenepoel's year ended badly: the 24-year-old Belgian, Olympic champion on the road and in the time trial in Paris as well as world champion against the clock, fractured a rib, his shoulder blade and his right hand yesterday morning in a training accident in Oetingen, in Flemish Brabant.

According to witnesses, the Olympian was unable to avoid the open door of a postal van that stopped right in front of him: upon impact, the bike of the Aalst phenomenon broke in two.

Following the violent impact, Evenepoel, who was training alone with his wife Oumi following him in the car, remained in pain for a long time on the ground, wrapped in a blanket waiting to be transported to the hospital in Anderlecht and then to the one in Herentals, where his dislocated shoulder was reset last night.

Just in these days the Belgian Olympic champion, who last Sunday attended the Formula One Grand Prix in Qatar, had decided to intensify his preparation for the next season. For the Belgian it is the second serious accident of this 2024: at the beginning of April he was involved with Vingegaard and Roglic in a fall at the Tour of the Basque Country, which cost him a fracture of the right collarbone and shoulder.