Jasper Philipsen was one of the most anticipated riders in today's Nokere Koerse, but a crash ruined his plans and what was supposed to be an easy sprint in the last kilometer turned into a violent fall.

The most illustrious name was indeed Jasper Philipsen, who had to leave the race with an ambulance taking him to Nokere hospital for tests. De Vlam van Ham, as Philipsen is called in Belgium, was undoubtedly the most affected rider, and everyone hopes the damage is minor, as the Milan-Sanremo is on Saturday. It should be noted that Philipsen got up by himself and walked into the ambulance, which is encouraging, although just moments before the cameras had captured him with his hands on his face and tears in his eyes.

Philipsen, last year's winner of the Spring Classic, had decided to participate in Nokere Koerse to fine-tune his preparation ahead of the first Monument race of the year. In this race, he had also implemented a new strategy, likely the one he intended to use on Saturday at Sanremo.

The Belgian was a protagonist from the start, and his strategy involved making sudden accelerations to break up the group. The idea was good, and among Philipsen's victims, for example, was Arnaud de Lie, who couldn't survive the Flemish rider's attacks. Philipsen made several attacks in the last 10 kilometers of the race, but unfortunately, a crash ended the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter's race. Currently, De Vlam van Ham is in Nokere hospital for tests, and the results of the ongoing examinations are awaited.

UPDATE AT 7 PM. Alpecin-Deceuninck team manager Preben Van Hecke witnessed Philipsen's crash and his anger and disappointment before going to the hospital. "It was an unfortunate crash" - said Van Hecke - "We were having a good race. Jasper is angry and disappointed. He has quite a few bruises, and his right side is pretty beaten up. He'll probably need a few stitches on his hand. We'll examine it together with the doctor. If something happens in front of you, you can prepare for the impact. But this crash came out of nowhere. Is Milan-Sanremo in danger? It's hard to say right now; everything will depend on how he is tonight. We'll fly to Italy tomorrow, then a decision will be made. It could get worse tonight, but it could also improve. It's difficult to estimate."

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