A high-speed crash on the run-in to the finish of stage seven of the Tour de France saw João Almeida and Jack Haig hit the deck, among around 10 unfortunate riders.
The incident occurred with around 6km to go, with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Enric Mas (Movistar) caught out. Haig was immediately tended to by race medics, and it was later reported that the Australian had abandoned the race.
It is not known at this stage how seriously any of the riders were injured, but at the very least all those involved were set to lose time as the race continued at the front. All but Haig finished.
Other riders that crashed included Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Guillaume Martin and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), Sergio Higuita (XDS Astana), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) and Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL).
Almeida's tyre appeared to come off the wheel rim in the incident.
Of those who crashed, the others were all reported as finished minutes after the incident. The race continued, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) out-sprinting Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to victory.
"I hope João is ok, if he is then it’s a perfect day, and if he’s not, then this victory is ok," Pogačar said post-stage. "I just wish he’s ok"
"I just heard it and when I looked back I saw a lot of riders on the ground," outgoing yellow jersey Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) said when interviewed by Eurosport at the finish. "I don't know what happened, but I hope everyone is ok."
Bahrain-Victorious posted on X: "Unfortunately it was a day to forget for TBV, as a nasty crash within the last few km saw Jack Haig and Santiago Buitrago go down. Jack was forced to abandon, although Santi did heroically make it across the finish line. We await updates from the medical team.
"With our leader Santiago going well and his road captain Jack an ever-solid lieutenant, this is a big blow for the team. But we fight on, as we always will."
UAE Team Emirates posted on X: "João is now with our medical team and we will provide a full update once he has completed the necessary checks."
More to follow...
