Davide Ballerini recovered following shocking Flanders crash: "I have two stitches, but everything else is fine"

Davide Ballerini has had a very complicated Tour of Flanders. He crashed twice, the final one in sight of the line when he touched wheels with Edward Theuns and dramatically crashed into the barriers. He now talks of the incident. 

“I wanted to do the lead out for Tim and then I go left. And Theuns comes between Tim and me. I hit him with my front wheel and hit the crush barriers," he said ahead of Paris-Roubaix. "I don't know if it was my fault or Theuns'. I have two stitches, but everything else is fine with me."

After over 270 kilometers of racing it was the worst possible end to the Ronde for the Italian, who went down literally meters away from the finish and walked past the line battered and with blood on his face. He talked with the Belgian afterwards which did not end in bad terms.

After two falls in the day, Ballerini was not seriously affected. He starts this Sunday's Paris-Roubaix as one of the many strong cogs in Soudal - Quick-Step's wheel, an important race as the Belgian team looks to save their spring in the cobbled classics.