"It all happened in the blink of an eye," reported QuickStep-AlphaVinyl in an update following a late-race crash that took down their sprinter Mark Cavendish at Ronde van Limburg on Monday.
Cavendish was in prime position to sprint for a potential victory in the 202.6km race between Hasselt and Tongeren.
However, while he was perfectly placed in the wheel of teammate and lead-out man Michael Mørkøv, a crash took him out of contention, along with several other riders who hit the pavement with three kilometres to go. Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) also crashed.
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Cavendish escaped unscathed from the incident and finished the race in 96th place, but his absence meant that his team could not play a role in the finale sprint won by Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Soudal).
The final also saw Simone Consonni (Cofidis) finish second and Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) third, Milan Menten (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) fourth and Sam Bennett fifth.
It was the second incident in as many days and marks the continuation of bad luck for Cavendish. He also suffered a mechanical that put an end to his chances of fighting for the win at Heylen Vastgoed Heistse Pijl on Saturday, also won by De Lie.
