Alaphilippe, who must be kept under observation in Herentals (northern Belgium) where he was directed, also has two broken ribs after his fall in the "Doyenne", a race which stubbornly refuses him (2nd in 2015 and 2021 ).
His Belgian teammate Ilan Van Wilder is suffering from a broken jaw.
The Frenchman fell at the same time as part of the peloton about sixty kilometers from the finish, on the descent leading to the Col du Rosier.
Alaphilippe found himself several meters from the road, on the right side.
"I saw Julian 5 or 6 meters below and it was an emotional shock," said Romain Bardet, the first to rescue the world champion, after the finish.
"No one was coming and he really needed help. It was an emergency situation. Julian couldn't move or breathe. He felt conscious but he couldn't really speak," Bardet added.
Alaphilippe, 29, fell three times in two months.
He rode a spectacular sun during the Strade Bianche at the beginning of March then fell again, without consequence however, in the Brabant Arrow on April 13th.
The French world champion Julian Alaphilippe falls during the classic Strade Blanche, March 5, 2022 around Siena Marco BERTORELLO AFP / Archives
This season, the double world champion has had less success.
If he won a stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, he could not do better than fourth Wednesday in his favorite race, the Flèche wallonne, which he had won last year for the third time.
Among the other victims of the fall, Frenchman Dorian Godon suffered a fractured left collarbone requiring surgery and a fractured right wrist, according to details from his AG2R Citroën team.
© 2022 AFP