Remco Evenepoel crashes into woman at finish line after winning Vuelta stage 3

The Belgian suffered the mishap immediately after winning in Arinsal

Harry Latham-Coyle
Monday 28 August 2023 17:16 BST
Comments
Remco Evenepoel’s face is bloodied following the incident
Remco Evenepoel’s face is bloodied following the incident (Eurosport)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Race favourite Remco Evenepoel suffered a bizarre crash moments after securing victory in the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

Belgian Evenepoel, who is bidding for a second consecutive general classification win at the Spanish grand tour, sprinted away from a group of favourites to take the stage win in an early show of strength.

But having carried significant speed through the finishing area, the Soudal-QuickStep rider careered into a throng of people, colliding with a woman and hitting the deck.

Evenepoel was left with a significant amount of blood on his face after the incident after falling heavily.

The mishap spoiled what was an otherwise impressive day from the 23-year-old on the first summit finish of this year’s Vuelta.

Evenepoel took the race leader’s red jersey after acclerating away from a condensed group largely comprised of team leaders after a tough 158.5km route between Suria and Arinsal in Andorra.

Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, who is attempting to do the Tour de France/Vuelta double, kicked to outsprint Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) for second place, with Vingegaard’s teammate Primoz Roglic also in the top five at the end of the first Pyrenean stage of the race.

A win for either Vingegaard or Roglic would make Jumbo-Visma the first team to complete a sweep of all three men’s grand tours in a single calendar year in the modern era.

The race continues with stage four tomorrow, with the riders starting in Andorra la Vella before ducking back into Spain on a hilly route to the port city of Tarragona.

The next significant test for the GC men is set to be on Wednesday’s Stage Six, with a tough final climb up to the Astrophysical Observatory of Javalambre.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in