World and Olympic madison champion, Lasse Norman Hansen, and Tour de France green jersey Mark Cavendish were both taken down in a freak crash during the madison at the Ghent Six Day this evening.
However, while Cavendish looked like he may have been seriously injured and was taken away on a stretcher, he was briefly able to stand on his own and wave to the crowd after the nasty spill.
German rider Gerben Thijssen started the unfortunate incident when his back wheel slipped on some water down the bottom of the track. That caused the rider behind him, Kenny DeKetele, to rub Thijssen's back wheel.
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While DeKetele stayed upright, he soon went flying up the track and his motion up the banking, at very high speed, took out Hansen who was just behind. Cavendish also fell hard and tumbled down the track.
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The madison was the neutralised before resuming, with Hansen able to get going again with Michael Mørkøv. Cavendish had been riding the event with his Deceuninck-QuickStep team mate Iljo Keisse.
Deceuninck-QuickStep has confirmed Cavendish was taken to hospital for checks, after being taken from the venue on a stretcher. Cavendish's wife, Peta, took to Twitter on Sunday night to confirm her husband was being kept in the ICU overnight. The nature of his injuries were not immediately clear.
