Huge crash takes down half the field and blocks the road at the Four Days of Dunkirk

Three riders forced to abandon after incident
Henry Robertshaw

The opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk was disrupted by a large crash which took down half the field and blocked the road.

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The incident occurred with 22km remaining on the stage from Dunkirk to Iwuy, with a Direct Energie rider near the front of the bunch appearing to clip the wheel of the Lotto-Soudal rider in front of him, falling to the right and taking out an FDJ rider to trigger a chain reaction.

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A large number of riders were brought down in the crash with bodies and bikes blocking the road, leaving only around 40 riders at the front of the race with Lotto-Soudal’s Jens Debusschere eventually taking the win.

Thankfully only three riders were forced to abandon the race as a result of the crash, with Stijn Vandenbergh (Ag2r La Mondiale) suffering concussion and Frederik Frison (Lotto-Soudal) suffering injuries to his hip and ribs.