The women’s edition of Strade Bianche on Saturday was plagued by crashes involving several top favorites. Tour de France winner Kasia Niewiadoma suffered a nasty crash in a descent just before the finale, landing hard on the asphalt and remaining in visible pain. Shortly afterward, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot also went down while descending but was able to continue the race. Niewiadoma, racing for Canyon//SRAM, was well-positioned when
she suddenly found herself against the guardrail. Her teammates were visibly concerned about the condition of their team leader, who remained on the ground and was unable to continue. A few other riders crashed into Niewiadoma, but they were able to remount and continue.
Her husband, Taylor Phinney—a former professional cyclist—provided a medical update on social media. "Kasia is OK; she only has some abrasions and pain in her head. Fortunately, I was just two kilometers away from the crash and managed to get there in time to go with her in the ambulance to the hospital. They are doing precautionary X-rays. She’s feeling fine, but she’s definitely frustrated that she couldn’t race."
Read more below the video.
A little later, a breakaway formed, including Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who was the designated leader for Visma | Lease a Bike. The Frenchwoman, known for her technical skills from mountain biking, misjudged a turn while descending and crashed onto the asphalt. However,
she quickly got back on her feet and was able to continue into the finale.Video: Ferrand-Prévot got up lightning fast after crash