🎥 AlUla Tour crash at over 100 km/h leaves victims: Rex (Soudal Quick-Step) suffers three fractures in his back

Stage 3 was relatively straightforward until the finale. A long, steady rise brought the peloton up to around 1,000 metres, before a rolling plateau set things up for the final phase of the day. With roughly 15 kilometres to go, the riders launched into a steep descent on wide roads — and everything looked under control, until it suddenly wasn’t.

Speeds climbed above 100 km/h when the crash happened. Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies), Davide Stella (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) and Laurenz Rex (Soudal Quick-Step) were among those who hit the deck hard, with footage quickly circulating on social media.

For Stella — just 19 and usually riding for UAE Team Emirates’ development set-up — and Grellier, it was immediately over. Both climbed into the team car and did not continue in the race. At the time of writing, there has been no detailed public injury update for either rider.

Rex, however, somehow made it to the finish. The Belgian, who joined Soudal Quick-Step this winter after leaving Intermarché–Wanty, came home second-to-last at 13 minutes and 7 seconds down. Shortly afterwards, his team initially tried to calm concerns: “He has some abrasions, but he was able to finish,” Soudal Quick-Step wrote on social media.

But Friday brought far worse news. After examinations in hospital, Soudal Quick-Step confirmed that Rex had broken three spinous processes in his back and would not start stage 4 of the AlUla Tour. In the team’s medical update, Rex also responded from hospital: “I would like to thank the team’s doctor, the race’s medical staff and everyone at the hospital for looking after me, as well as everybody that has sent me good wishes and messages – it has been very special. I will now take some time to recover and hope to come back stronger later in the season.”