Como (Italy) (AFP)
The Danish Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) won the 114th edition of the Tour of Lombardy in Como (northern Italy) on Saturday, marked by the very impressive fall of Belgian favorite Remco Evenepoel.
Fuglsang (35) started alone on the last climb and finally beat New Zealander George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana).
This is the Dane's second success in a great classic after Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2019.
Before the final, the race was marked by the fall of Evenepoel which toppled over a parapet and then into the void as the leading runners descended at high speed after climbing the terrible wall of Sormano.
His team, Deceuninck-QuickStep, confirmed that the young Belgian (20 years old) remained conscious. He was taken by ambulance to Sant'Anna Hospital in Como. The first information concerning his state of health is reassuring. Italian public television Rai mentions "bruises on a leg".
Images taken by an AFP photographer show him indeed conscious and grimacing, without apparent injuries.
The televised images of Evenepoel's fall, very impressive, show her bike getting stuck on a stall on the wall, after an error in the runner's trajectory.
Evenepoel then passed over his bicycle, his head seeming to touch the low wall of the bridge, and he fell below, about ten meters.
The descent was made at high speed under the leadership of Vincenzo Nibali and Evenepoel was at the time of his fall very slightly off the hook.
© 2020 AFP