Early-race crash send four to hospital with concussions and fractures at E3 Saxo Classic

A serious crash in the opening kilometres of E3 Saxo Classic saw four riders abandon and taken to hospital to treat their injuries on Friday. 

Nervousness in the peloton and an early crash took down Gil Gelders, Jordi Warlop and Dries Van Gestel, all from Soudal-QuickStep, along with Kevin Vermaerke from Picnic-PostNL. 

All were examined onsite and then transported to a hospital in nearby Waregem for further medical examination.

Soudal-QuickStep confirmed in a medical update following the race that doctors have treated Gelders and Warlop for concussions, while Van Gestel has fractured his left elbow and wrist.

"Following their crash in the opening 20 kilometers of Friday’s E3 Saxo Classic, Gil Gelders, Dries Van Gestel and Jordi Warlop were taken to hospital in Waregem. Both Gil and Jordi have been treated for concussion but fortunately have no other injuries," Soudal-QuickStep wrote in a medical update.

"While Dries did not have a concussion, he has, however, fractured his left elbow and wrist. A process for his treatment and recovery will be decided in the coming hours and days."

Picnic-PostNL has not yet released a medical update regarding Vermaerke's injuries and recovery.

The carnage caused significant splits among the peloton, with pre-race favourites Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) caught even further back in a group nearly four minutes behind.

Van der Poel went on to win the race after a searing attack on the Oude Kwaremont and a solo pursuit into the finish line in Harelbeke, however, he later expressed his disappointment that some teams decided to put pressure on the front of the race, while he and others were caught behind the crash.

"In the beginning, we were behind a crash, and some teams felt it was necessary to take advantage of that," Van der Poel said, sounding somewhat irritated.

"The team had to ride all day because of this. I felt a bit obliged to try and finish it off afterward. I was very motivated. I went quite deep, but I'm happy that I was able to reward them with a victory."

While Soudal-QuickStep took the brunt of the accident with three riders abandoning, Casper Pedersen saved the race for the team after bring involved in the day's decisive breakaway and then anticipating the chase group sprint to finish fourth.

Pedersen and Aimé De Gendt (Cofidis) jumped on the Knokteberg, and race winner Van der Poel, Ganna and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) later bridged across to form the winning breakaway.

Although Casper Pedersen and De Gendt were dropped from the breakaway on the Kwaremont and caught by a chase group, Pedersen had enough left in the tank to sprint for fourth.

"It was a very hard day," Casper Pedersen said. "We know E3 is always a super hard day and a very hectic day, but today was even more so due to the big crash near the start, where we had a lot of guys, unfortunately, caught up inside. 

"But we tried to stay calm and wait for the two big groups to come together, and from my side, I tried to anticipate the race a bit with an attack and that worked out perfect for me."