Cancellara's Flanders hopes in tatters after Harelbeke smash

ByReuters

Updated 27/03/2015 at 17:56 GMT

Fabian Cancellara's Flanders campaign was ruined as the triple Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix champion crashed out of the GP E3-Harelbeke on Friday.

0327 Chute Cancellara

Image credit: Eurosport

The Swiss powerhouse sustained a terrible crash on the Belgian cobbles, and what looked at first like a wrist fracture turned out to be far more serious, with the superstar rider having fractured two vertebrae.

Yikes

The rider later Tweeted a picture of his broken spine:

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Two of cycling's five 'Monument' one-day classics are being held in the Flanders region, with the Tour of Flanders on April 5 and Paris-Roubaix a week later -- both featuring cobbled sections.

Cancellara won the Tour of Flanders in 2010, 2013, 2014 and Paris-Roubaix in 2006, 2010, 2013 - but there is no prospect of him recovering in time.

Bad

Another Flanders great, four-times Paris-Roubaix champion and three-times Tour of Flanders winner Tom Boonen has already been ruled out of both races with a shoulder injury.

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