UAE rider Bjerg suffers multiple fractures after kangaroo collision, Visma | LaB's Huising breaks collarbone

Only in Australia… It was a wild ending to the Tour Down Under. With 95 km to go, a kangaroo jumped into the peloton, causing several crashes. Among those was ochre jersey holder Jay Vine. The leader in the general classification was fortunately able to get up again without too much harm and take the overall victory.

His teammate was less lucky. Danish rider Mikkel Bjerg was also brought down and stayed on the ground for a long time. He did not finish the stage, nor did teammate Juan Sebastián Molano. It is not yet known how they are doing. Also Menno Huising did not finish the stage — he broke his collarbone, Visma | Lease a Bike announced. Whether he was involved in that same crash is unclear, but footage shows that at least one yellow jersey hit the ground.

The three riders who abandoned were only part of the men who did not finish the final stage. In total, no fewer than 11 riders had to get into the team cars before the end of the closing stage. Over six days there were 26 withdrawals in Australia. Earlier, Jhonatan Narváez was forced out with thoracic vertebra fractures, and Max van der Meulen already had to quit in Stage 1 after a crash.

A day after the accident with the kangaroo, UAE Team Emirates-XRG provided an update on the unfortunate Bjerg. He will have to watch for a while, the team told DR.dk. “Mikkel collided with a kangaroo that ran onto the road,” the team began. “He had to abandon the race and was examined by doctors. He has a fracture to the acromioclavicular joint (between the collarbone and shoulder) and a fracture in his hand.”