Julian Alaphilippe has suffered broken bones to his right hand after crashing with a motorbike rider during the Tour of Flanders.
The world champion was clear in a breakaway at the time with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) with just over 35km to go.
However, as the trio overtook a motorbike rider, who was working on the race, they passed it closely with Van der Poel just missing the bike.
Alaphilippe, who was last of the three, hit the back of the motorbike with the right side of his body and he was immediately out of the race.
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He looked in a lot of pain and his Deceuninck-QuickStep team was very unhappy about the crash, with Van der Poel later going on to beat Van Aert in a two-up sprint for victory.
Deceuninck-QuickStep has issued a statement, confirming Alaphilippe had broken a number of bones in his hand.
"The world champion was taken to the hospital in Ronse, where the X-rays showed fractures of the metacarpal 2 and 4 on his right hand," it said.
"Alaphilippe, who was making his last appearance of the season in Flanders... will be operated Monday morning at the Herentals Clinic by Dr De Schrijver."
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