Julian Alaphilippe may have been able to get back on his bike after the insane crash at Strade Bianche but others who fell victim to the incident were not so lucky.
Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) was already struggling to stay upright in the gusty crosswinds when one of the Alpecin Fenix riders crashed in front of him and sent the world champion tumbling off the road; both rider and bike then blown right into the field.
He was able to recover himself and rejoin the race and eventually finished in 58th position, some 8:36 down on race winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) who took a solo win with a 50km lone breakaway.
The wind blew so strongly on the fifth sector of gravel after about 100km of racing that riders all through the bunch were blown off their bikes, or crashed into others who fell. In total between 35 and 40 riders came down in the same incident.
Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) looked badly shook and was forced out of the race as was the winner from four years ago, Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma). Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) was another high profile casualty as were Victor Campenaerts and Brent Van Moer, both of Lotto Soudal.
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Alpecin Fenix, already without their leader Mathieu
van der Poel for the day due to his back injury, lost no fewer than three
riders to the crash; Michael Gogl, Stefano Oldani and Gianni Vermeersch.
