The bad fall of cycling world champion Julian Alaphilippe (29) at Liège-Bastogne-Liège is still a cause for concern. On Tuesday it became known that the Frenchman must remain in the hospital. “For observation”, as his team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl announced. Alaphilippe was badly injured in his fall with 62km to go, suffering two broken ribs, a fractured shoulder blade and a collapsed lung.
Colleagues are shocked. “I was very scared for him, he lay three meters down the slope and said: ‘I can’t move, I can’t move’ but nobody came,” said his French compatriot Romain Bardet, according to “Eurosport”. Bardet stayed with Alaphilippe and waited with him for the rescue workers. It took “an eternity” for help to finally come.
The scene was brutal after the mass fall happened right in front of him, Bardet said. “At 80 kilometers per hour, nobody wanted to brake – suddenly drivers were lying on the ground everywhere, it was really shocking”. The vice world champion from 2018 then gave up the race – was so shaken that he could not continue. (red)