Broken bones, stitches and bruises: brutal medical updates after numerous crashes in Strade Bianche
CyclingSaturday, 08 March 2025 at 23:55
The 2025 edition of Strade Bianche will forever be remembered as that one race where Tadej Pogacar crashed at 50 km/h—yet still won. However, the Slovenian from UAE Emirates-XRG was far from the only rider to hit the deck, with many crashes occurring even before the TV broadcast had begun. What’s the damage across the different teams?
UAE Emirates-XRG
Pogacar’s crash didn’t stop him from getting back on his bike and eventually taking victory. The Slovenian was mainly injured on the left side of his body and is unlikely to have a restful night. "The adrenaline is wearing off now, and I’m in a lot of pain. Hopefully, it’s nothing worse than it looks, and everything will be fine. I took that corner too fast, even though I know it well. Sometimes you just misjudge things, and that’s what happened. Shit happens."
Bahrain Victorious
Matej Mohoric, a former gravel world champion and a frequent top-ten finisher in Strade Bianche, was unable to start this time. The Slovenian rider from Bahrain Victorious has been struggling with illness since the Tour de la Provence, which also disrupted his plans for the Opening Weekend.
Decathlon AG2R
Decathlon AG2R also shared in the misfortune. Stan Dewulf literally crashed out of the breakaway, suffering a broken collarbone. Climber Clément Berthet sustained a deep wound on his knee in a crash.
Groupama-FDJ
The French team Groupama-FDJ lined up in Strade Bianche with David Gaudu, Valentin Madouas, and Romain Grégoire as outside contenders but never managed to make an impact. Even before the final phase of the race began, both Gaudu and Grégoire had already crashed. "Gaudu mainly has superficial wounds at first glance," the team reported on social media. Madouas was unable to contest the finale due to a puncture at an unfortunate moment.
INEOS Grenadiers
INEOS Grenadiers had Michal Kwiatkowski as their team leader, but the Polish rider crashed in the same corner as Pogacar and was forced to abandon early. Earlier in the race, Salvatore Puccio and Brandon Rivera had also crashed, with Puccio ultimately unable to continue.
Intermarché-Wanty
Francesco Busatto of Intermarché-Wanty "hit the ground hard," according to his team. Fortunately for the Italian, he was able to reach the finish line.
Israel-Premier Tech
Israel-Premier Tech also had to lick its wounds, losing Krists Neilands and Rhiley Sheehan to crashes. The team will provide a medical update later.
Lidl-Trek
Mathias Vacek, who was the first to crest both the Muur and Bosberg in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last week, did not make it to the finale of Strade Bianche. The Czech rider injured his knee in a crash. Young talent Albert Withen Philipsen had earlier dropped from the breakaway but managed to finish the race.
Lotto
At Lotto, Arjen Livyns fell on his face during Strade Bianche. The Belgian did manage to finish the race.
Movistar
Movistar’s Spanish squad saw Davide Formolo and Ruben Guerreiro go down in crashes. Guerreiro was examined, but fortunately, only bruises were found.
Picnic PostNL
The Dutch team Picnic PostNL lost its intended Tirreno-Adriatico leader Max Poole in a crash. The British rider will visit a doctor the same evening for scans.
XDS-Astana
One of the hardest-hit teams was undoubtedly XDS-Astana. The team lost Alberto Bettiol due to a flat tire, but more significantly, season revelation Cristian Scaroni and Diego Ulissi crashed out. Early reports suggest that Scaroni may have suffered a broken collarbone.
This post is being updated.
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Latest Comments
- Roger Vlaeminck says Mads is not a good rider? Where is the headline saying you don't even have to be a good rider to win the World Road Championship says Roger Vlaeminck, who never won it!!? Perhaps his aging mind needs to think about what the heck he's saying.packfiller7103-09-2025
- Wow, there is so much criticism of the UAE XRG riders. Why so much criticism is being leveled solely at the riders is baffling. The UAE XRG management deserves a good amount of the criticism aimed at the team, as a whole. They have not managed the talent they have at all. They failed miserably to properly handle young Isaac del Toro on that penultimate day of the Giro. And they have not handled Juan Ayuso well either. If they didn't have Tadej Pogacar in their roster, we might not be talking about them as winners, at all. So many think that Ayuso has shown that he is not a "team" player at all. Does anybody think that he might be thinking about his own future at this point? That he might want to feel like the team has his back, when they load the pressure onto him? And Joao is not a team leader. That burden might be laid on him by the management, but they need to properly support that assignment, not make it a contentious situation, within the team. And then how management has conducted themselves throughout this parting of ways between themselves and Ayuso has been totally indiscreet. And yet people want to pile onto Ayuso when he tells the truth about the manner that this is all soap opera is developing. He wants out. He shouldn't be getting so much negative criticism for that. It's a situation that has soured. Yes he has a contract, but he is not the first, nor will he be the last that wants to get out of a relationship that just isn't working anymore. And DeCauwer seems to have very vague reasons for criticizing Almeida. He does realize that Jonas is the second best Grand Tour rider of this current generation, so it should be no shame that Joao is behind him in the standings. Riders are giving their all in an extremely difficult sport that stretches them, often beyond their limits. Now many are wanting to send them to Behavioral School as well? The criticism ought to mellow out, or it ought to simply be ignored, as nothing more than blah, blah, blah, not worth the headlines it gets
reemmo002-09-2025 - In 5yrs, Pogi will be a top Twitch streamer living on baked goods while Urska is still racing.Veganpotter11-08-2025
- All they learned is that at the end of a 3 week race, Wout can beat him on a slightly bumpy stage. Obviously, this is very much thanks to Wout not racing for GC every day. This doesn't teach them a thing for Jonas beating Pogi. Not saying Jonas will never beat him again. But this absolutely won't have anything to do with it if he does beat him.Veganpotter28-07-2025
- Well, he eventually Pogacar pays the price for his insane spring campaign which was really crazyRosenkohl196125-07-2025
- Maybe I was a bit disrespectful to Heiden. What he did was unique and exceptional but he wasn't the only one who combined those distances, nowadays it is just not possible and nobody competes in both distances. The same is true for cycling with for example the combination of Roubaix and de Tour de France. In Merckx era there were more riders who managed a top10 in both races than currently.Joostmehrtens19-06-2025
- Two old men shouting at pigeons in the park…JonS16-06-2025
- Out of touch old men hankering after their youth through rose tinted spectacles, their arrogance almost outshines their irrelevance. Turn the volume down, this modern stuff just isn't music like we used to sing...johnny20whales16-06-2025
- In talking speed skating, the days when Heiden did that, nobody else did that. And Eddy couldn't do the equivalent of the bike. His 200 on the velodrome was good, but not world competitive for gold. Heiden was in his own world on the ice, moreso than Eddy if we pretend Eric didn't have a very short career on the ice.Veganpotter16-06-2025
- They wouldn't have dropped HIM so easily.... the GOAT. They would have dropped the rest from that era easily thoughVeganpotter16-06-2025
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