Nicolas Roche looking out cold on the grass verge after his crash in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, with Dan Martin also coming down hard in the same spill.
Having gone into Liège–Bastogne–Liège yesterday as protected riders in their teams, hopes of a good result were finished for Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) and Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) in a crash with just over 40km remaining.
The Irish cousins both fell very heavily, with Roche coming off worst, in a crash that took down a number of the fancied riders including last year's winner Simon Gerrans.
The Orica-GreenEDGE Australian won the 2014 edition after Martin had attacked the select group and looked to be dancing to victory only to crash on the last corner.
But yesterday both came a cropper and did not finish as a result.
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Roche has looked very strong so far this season and was an outsider for a win yesterday.
And while Martin was victorious in the race in 2013 and came so close 12 months ago, his chances were less clear cut this time after a crash in Wednesday’s Fleche-Wallone in Belgium.
Dan Martin picks himself up off the ground yesterday; the last place he wanted to be, especially after his crash midweek.
At the time of writing we had no firm information on Martin, though he looked to get back on his feet in the clip below in a manner that suggested he had not broken any bones.
However, already carrying bruising and road rash from last Wednesday, he will likely be at best fragile today.
Roche looked much more seriously injured and even aside from possible broken bones, his laying flat out on the grass for so long was a really worrying sight.
But thankfully his injuries were not serious, according to Team Sky sports director Gabrial Rasch.
"Nico would have definitely been there at the end if he hadn’t have crashed," he said of the Irishman who has looked in mint condition this season.
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"He’s fine actually; he went down pretty hard but thankfully was more dazed than injured," Roche's director continued.
“Once that had worn off he was OK, and that’s a big relief because we’d feared the worst when we saw him lying on the ground.
"He took a bang to the head and also to his shoulder, but nothing’s broken. As always, we’ll keep an eye on him but there’s no long-term worries."
We'll bring you more on Martin when we have it.
Also riding yesterday were Team Sky's Philip Deignan and Matt Brammeier of MTN-Quebeka, neither of whom finished.
The race was won by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), the 35-year-old who has served a two-year doping ban and also won Wednesday’s Fleche-Wallone.
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