Mass crash shocks peloton during women’s road race at World Championships, with defending champion Magdeleine Vallieres and Paula Blasi among affected riders

148 riders started the race tackling the hilly 180.1km route featuring the closing Mount Royal circuit and eight ascents of the Camillien-Houde climb (2.3km at 6.2%).

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The incident happened once the peloton reached the second of eight laps, with the riders coming down 12km into the circuit along Rue Saint-Urbain before turning onto Ave des Pins in the first third of the peloton.

The crash also included Femke de Vries (Netherlands), Daniela Campos (Portugal), Julia Borgström (Sweden), Carina Schrempf (Austria),
Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda), Flora Perkins (Great Britain), Kate Courtney and Grace Arlandson (USA), Marta Jaskulska (Poland), Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Norway), Adèle Normand (Canada), Lauretta Hanson (Australia), and Caroline Andersson (Sweden).

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At the time of the crash, there was a breakaway of two riders that were part of an initial four-rider move in the peloton, including Natalie Quinn (Team USA) and Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and they still had a three-minute gap.

The crash caused major splits in the peloton, with those involved in the incident scrambling to get back on their bikes and chasing to try and close the gaps, including Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius) and Sarah Gigante (Australia), while Vallieres was left chasing at more than seven minutes back by the time they were partway through the third lap with 80km to go.

With visible wounds to her leg and hand, Vallieres abandoned, but not before arriving back at the finish line and waving to the crowds, bloodied, but with a huge smile still on her face as her title defence came to an early end.

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Canada cycling’s chief of sport Sebastien Travers spoke at the finish, but had little information to provide in the way of Vallieres’ condition: “She’s being evaluated by our doctors, as well as the organisation’s doctors, and as soon as we know more, we will provide more information.

Travers hadn’t yet seen the incident or spoken to the rider, but also said, “I’m hopeful she can rebound fast, and as I said, this is certainly not the last World Championships.

More to follow…