Spectacular Multi-Riders Crash During Tour de France Femmes' Stage 5, Forced A Rider To Be Hospitalized
Spectacular Multi-Riders Crash During Tour de France Femmes' Stage 5, Forced A Rider To Be Hospitalized
Updated on July 30, 2022 10:25 AM by Anna P

A massive crash of the Tour de France Femmes Stage 5 on Thursday forced one rider to need hospital treatment. With only 50km left of the longest race stage, an incident on a straight road between Bar-le-Luc to Saint-die-des-Vosges quickly escalated into a massive crash that saw half the field off their bikes.
With dozens involved, it took several minutes for riders to untangle themselves from each other's bikes. Many riders had bumps and bruises, with SD Worx' Chantal van den Broek-Blaak having to have her right arm bandaged by medical staff in the team car while riding and former Italian national champion Marta Bastianelli battling through tears to continue.

However, the vast pileup spelled the end of Movistar's Emma Norsgaard's race after being forced to pull out with her injuries. Although she could stand, the Danish cyclist had to leave in an ambulance. The team said on Instagram that the 23-year-old "hit her head, neck and left shoulder into a pileup and had to be transferred to a hospital in Epinal."
On Friday morning, Movistar announced that Norgaard had no fractures after undergoing scans and will "remain under medical observation and rest for 24 hours, to monitor any after-effects from the incident." Norgaard said, "Thanks for all the messages. It's really nice of all of you," adding, "I'm ok, I'm traveling back home to Girona and I only need some rest but the rest is ok."
Former British racing cyclist Dani Christmas said these things could happen on long stretches of road. Dani said on Eurosport, "This is the danger when riders become relaxed in the bunch and you can almost be fooled into a false sense of security." She added, "If you're too relaxed, if riders aren't concentrating, then crashes can happen.
The speed in the bunch must have been so high for so many riders to have been impacted." And at the end of the 175.6km stage, the longest in the modern history of women's World Tour racing, Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM finished first.
The Dutch rider, also the winner of the shortest stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, showed why she's the best sprinter, while world champion Elisa Balsamo came second and Marianne Vos third. However, Vos' four bonus seconds saw her extend her lead in the general classification to 20 seconds.