Deceuninck-Quickstep manager Patrick Leferet said he was watching Il Lombardia in the parlor of former rider Luca Paolini when he witnessed footage of his star rider, Remco Evenpole, crashing into a low bridge wall and being thrown from it into a ravine. He said he witnessed a video of him being thrown into the valley.

"I am glad he is still alive," Lefebvre told Het Nieuwsblad (open in new tab).

Evenpole disappeared into the trees near the start of the bridge over the canyon, leaving his bike propped up against a low stone wall with nothing to protect the rider. Lying at the bottom of a steep slope, 20-year-old Evenpoel was quickly rescued by paramedics, strapped into a neck brace to protect his spine, strapped to a buckboard, and taken to a hospital in Como. [He is conscious. Lemko, however, has a fractured pelvis and a hole in his right lung. I saw him, but most of all he wanted to reassure his parents and teammates."

Clearly, Evenepaul's impressive second season in the World Tour is over. He won four stage races this season, most notably the Tour de Pollogne, and was scheduled to lead Deceuninck-Quick Step at Tirreno-Adriatico before making his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia.

"I don't care what happens to his season," said Deceuninck. I'm just glad he's still alive." He's going to have to watch a lot of TV this season. He said to me, 'I'm sorry. I said, 'He's still alive. Shut up.'"

The descent of Muro di Solmano where Evenpoel crashed is one of the most technical on the World Tour circuit; in 2017, Lefebvre witnessed another of his riders, Laurens de Pras, crash into a ravine elsewhere. It was also reminiscent of the crash of Philippe Gilbert, another former Quick Step rider, at the 2018 Tour de France.

Lefebvre questioned why the same dangerous stretches continue to be used in the race.

"If we had gone a little further, things could have been even worse," Lefebvre said. 'I have told the union [UCI] and the organization many times that this kind of descent is not possible, but nothing has changed. I don't even want to talk about it anymore. To put it in a violent way, Fabio Jacobsen and Lemko have lost two people in one week. You are free to think that racing and winning is important. But if I see one of my riders jump into a barrier or a ravine, I don't think about that anymore. Then it's pure nonsense."

For the second time this week, the team is now arranging private flights for injured riders to return home. Jacobsen, who suffered severe trauma to his face and neck after breaking through a barricade in the opening sprint of the Tour de Pollogne, returned to the Netherlands this week.

Evenepoel raced with Jacobsen and paid tribute to him with his race number when he won solo on stage 4. Now he plans to return home to recover.

"A private jet has been arranged to transport him to Belgium. Not wanting to take any chances, he will remain here for another 24 hours. He still has some radiological tests to do, but we want to continue his rehabilitation in his home country."

"We have a lot of work to do.

Team director Davide Bramati said he hoped the team's misfortune would abate. 'Is this descent too dangerous? This descent has been used for years and there have been many crashes. On the other hand, crashes are part of cycling. We explored this descent with Lemko and did what we had to do to prepare.'