Ben Turner explains bizarre crash in In Flanders Fields

Turner crashed in highly unusual fashion in the finale, at a point in the race where you would not normally expect to see a rider hit the deck like that. “Not my luck the last races,” he wrote on social media. In E3, he was hit by a mechanical problem on the Taaienberg, while on the way to Wevelgem his handlebars became tangled with another rider’s.

That sent him flying diagonally across the tarmac in spectacular fashion. Fortunately, Turner was still able to see the funny side of it. He joked that it was a good thing he had practised somersaults on the bed as a child.

“I’m happy I haven’t broken anything, but it feels like Mike Tyson punched me in the back,” Turner said. “We’ll see what is still possible in the coming races...”

In any case, Turner has already been removed from the start list for Dwars door Vlaanderen. American rider Artem Schmidt will replace him there.