“It’s easy to go flying” - Basque rider Mikel Bizkarra on major crash at Itzulia Basque Country on his local roads

It was chaos on the Basque roads on stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country, as a crash on the descent of the Olaeta climb took out all three of the main pre-race favourites, as Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard all hit the deck and were forced to abandon the race, with the race neutralised and all riders given the same time at the finish.

Vingegaard suffered several broken ribs and a broken collarbone as a result of the crash, whilst Evenepoel also fractured his collarbone and his scapula. BORA-hansgrohe are yet to provide an update on Roglič’s condition, but the Slovenian seemed to have escaped with the fewest injuries out of the three riders, as he gave a thumbs up to the cameras as he jumped into the team car. However, with two crashes in two stages, his abandon seems to be precautionary.

On what could have caused the crash, Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Mikel Bizkarra, who is local to the area, took to Twitter to talk about the crash, stating that “on that road there are a lot of tree roots under the asphalt which makes the road very bumpy. You can’t see them at first glance, but without realising it, you’re bouncing around and if you don’t have a good grip on the handlebars, it’s easy to go flying”.