Tadej Pogačar's bid to win Milan-San Remo took a hit after the World Champion was caught in a crash with 32km to go.
The Slovenian was racing in the peloton on the road to the penultimate climb of the Cipressa when he went down along with several others when rounding a bend in the city of Imperia.
Pogačar, who suffered torn shorts and abrasions to his leg in the fall, wasn't the only rider to hit the deck.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was another to crash, while Biniam Girmay (NSN) and Giulio Pellizzarri (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) also went down.
Two-time race winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was another held up, with the Dutchman seemingly sustaining cuts to his right hand in the carnage.
Pogačar managed to return to the peloton quickly. He reached the group as the ascent of the Cipressa began, then moved to the front as teammate Brandon McNulty set the pace on the way up.
The crash clearly didn't affect the world champion too much, as before long he was on the offensive, launching an attack midway up the climb as Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Van der Poel matched his acceleration.
Van Aert's group, meanwhile, took longer to get back into the picture, only reconnecting with the peloton after the descent of the Cipressa, with 14.5km to run.
🌈 Tadej Pogacar goes down as we approach la Cipressa, and some big names are involved too - Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Biniam Girmay, Giulio Pellizzari ; that's a lot of favourites potentially out of contentionFollow #MilanoSanremo @CA_Ita on Rai 🇮🇹 and on Eurosport 🌐 pic.twitter.com/G1NJd6sGMlMarch 21, 2026
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