Cyclist sparks huge crash on wet first day of Strade Bianche race

Several of the cyclists were involved in the crash

Julian Alaphilippe's fall saw almost the whole peloton involved in a serious crash during the first day of the Strade Bianche race in Italy on Saturday. Alaphilippe was spotted being pushed across by the heavy crosswinds into the middle of the group of riders before becoming entangled with another rider. This caused the Frenchman to come off his bike, causing the rider he had become entangled with to then flip over after his front wheel collided with the bike in front. Several other riders then also lost their grip as they attempted to swerve away from the crash as a melee of cyclists then crashed themselves. https://twitter.com/marca/status/1500106909705199616 Only a small group were able to avoid the crash as several riders, including Michael Matthews of Bike Exchange-Jayco, were forced to abandon the race as a result of the collision. Matthews wasn't the only one, with the likes of Strade Bianche's 2018 champion, Tiesj Benoot forced to abandon. Other riders who also saw their race ended early included: Matej Mohorič, Michael Gogl, Stefano Oldani, Victor Campenaerts, Brent Van Moer, Salvatore Puccio and Gianni Vermeersch. Thankfully Alaphilippe was able to recover and continue however and found himself back at the front of the pack despite having to make up heavy ground due to the crash.