"I’ll do my absolute best to be back for Sunday!" - Mads Pedersen remains hopeful for Tour of Flanders after dramatic Dwars Door Vlaanderen crash

Mads Pedersen was one of a number of riders to go down incredibly hard in a dramatic mass crash at Dwars Door Vlaanderen on Wednesday afternoon.

Unlike the Dane's rival, Wout van Aert and Lidl-Trek teammate, Jasper Stuyven, who both suffered broken collarbones in the incident, Pedersen managed to escape relatively luckily with just scrapes and bruises, actually managing to ride his bike back to the team bus before abandoning. As such, there is still hope, Pedersen can contest for victory at the Tour of Flanders this weekend.

"Jeroen Heymans did an absolutely amazing job to make my beautiful @trekbikes back to life! - thanks," writes the recent winner of Gent Wevelgem in an update to his condition via his official Instagram account.

"Update on my self - brushes and a sore body is for sure on the menu for the next days, but I’ll do my absolute best to be back for Sunday!" Pedersen continues. "To my to fallen teammates Jasper Stuyven and Alex Kirsch, I wish you a speedy recovery!"