Jasper Philipsen, Belgian cyclist who won the opening stage at Tour de France, and was leading in points, had a serious fall in stage 3, between Valenciennes and Dunkirk. His green jersey, given to the point leader of the tour, was torn, and we've learnt today that he had a displaced collarbone fracture and two broken ribs. His back was also burned with the road rash.
His team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, published on Tuesday morning a photo of Philipsen, smiling in a hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, where he successfully underwent surgery on his acromioclavicular joint. "Now the road to recovery begins, and we'll be behind him all the way", said his team.
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"Jasper was a victim of something he was totally not involved in, that's clear" Philip Roodhooft, co-owner of the team, said "To be honest, the two others, they collide or crash but this is not about blaming. It was just a stupid crash, something that can happen", he added, via CyclingWeekly.
After Philipsen's withdrawal, Biniam Girmay from Intermarché-Wanty is temporarily leading in the sprinters' classification, while Australian Kaden Groves, making his debut at Tour de France this year, will be the team's best hope this year.