Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) may have dominated the season so far, but now the two-time Tour winner is a race against time to even get to the Tour to France start line in early July after his bad crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège today.
The Slovenian rider - who won Amstel Gold Race last Sunday and La Flèche Wallonne mid week - has suffered multiple fractures to his wrist and another to his hand, according to an update from his team. And with the Tour de France set to start in just over two months, it is unclear if he will be able to ride or what kind of condition he will be in if he makes the start.
UAE Team Emirates manager, Mauro Gianetti, said it was too early to say how long Pogačar would be away from racing and training, adding the team hoped it would have more information after the surgery, which was due to be performed later on Sunday.
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However, Gianetti said because there was more than one bone broken in the left wrist and hand, it looked like the injury would be "more complicated" than a single break.
"Since it's not just one bone broken, but multiple, it will be a little bit more complicated," he said. "We cross fingers it will be all OK and he will be able to recover very fast."
Gianetti clarified Pogačar had suffered "multiple fractures to the scaphoid, to the left wrist" which required surgery. He also had a fracture to the lunate bone, which is the section of bone on the hand that sits closest to the wrist, though surgery was not required for that injury.
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He pointed to the example of Julian Alaphilippe, who had suffered injury in crashes in recent years and for whom it was taking "a long time to come back" to top condition, though Gianetti hoped the process would be faster for Pogačar.
Gianetti added a "double explosion of the tyres" of Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) caused the crash, when the riders were going "very fast, at very high speed", meaning it was impossible for Pogačar to avoid crashing. The team later on Sunday confirmed Pogačar had undergone surgery and was planning to go home to recover.
When Pogačar was taken away from the crash scene today in a team car, rather than by ambulance, there were hopes he might have suffered more minor injuries, which he could shake off more quickly. However, when his team's medical director, Dr Adrian Rotunno, offered an update this afternoon, it was clear there was no chance of a quick return to competition for Pogačar.
"Tadej Pogačar suffered fractures to the left scaphoid and lunate bones," Dr Rotunno said. "The scaphoid will require surgery which he will undergo this afternoon with a specialist hand surgeon here in Genk."
Having already won the first two Ardennes Classics, Pogačar went into Liège-Bastogne-Liège as a favourite for victory, with a head-to-head battle expected between him and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep).
However, about 85km into today's 258km race, Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) suffered a double puncture on a descent, resulting in a crash which Pogačar fell victim to, resulting in the broken bones to his wrist.
