While Tadej Pogačar's crash at Strade Bianche provided the most dramatic moment of the day, he was far from the only victim on the brutal 213km route, with only 98 riders making it to the finish in Siena and a vast list of injuries being confirmed after the dust settled on a crash-filled edition.
Strade Bianche is no stranger to crashes, with the narrow gravel tracks and high speeds on dusty asphalt roads often leading to several incidents. However, when the live broadcast started, it was a shock to see only 30-40 riders remaining in the peloton.
The infernal pace set by Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG, which resulted in the fastest edition yet, and a new, tougher parcours were not the only causes of this, with several teams revealing the heavy medical toll taken on the peloton in early off-camera crashes.
Max Poole (Picnic PostNL), Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck) all broke a collarbone after crashing in Saturday's brutal edition.
Poole, a rising young British GC prospect, will "likely undergo surgery", according to his team doctor, while Dewulf and Versrynge's teammates Clement Berthet and Xandro Meurrise also crashed out, with the former sustaining a "deep wound on his knee."
There were further fractures for Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), who will require surgery for a broken wrist, and Javi Serrano (Polti VisitMalta), who fractured the head of his radius while trying to bridge across to the breakaway.
The eventual winner, Pogačar, avoided serious injury when he slid out and crashed 50km from the line, as did former Strade Bianche winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed on the same asphalt corner and suffered similar abrasions to his left shoulder.
David Gaudu and Romain Gregoire (Groupama FDJ) also didn't finish the race after crashing multiple times, but their wounds were only superficial.
"David [Gaudu] was involved in the first big fall of the day, which took out around twenty riders," explained DS Thierry Bricaud, shedding light on one of the early incidents of the day. "He changed bikes, he set off again, but a kilometer later, he fell a second time. His day ended there."
"During the first hundred kilometers, there were riders lying on the ground everywhere," said Visma-Lease a Bike DS Maarten Wynants to HLN, confirming the carnage of the opening salvos.
Christian Scaroni and Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) also crashed out but avoided fractures.
Movistar also saw two of their leaders hit the deck, with Davide Formolo recovering from a heavy fall to finish 14th and Ruben Guerreiro crashing out but without any fractures.
Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) posted a picture of his bloodied knee on Instagram, which required five stitches.
Several riders arrived at the finish line bloodied and bruised after battling away on the gravel roads, Pogačar among them, with his left shoulder, elbow and leg all showing signs of his heavy impact.
After crashing, Francesco Busatto (Intermarché-Wanty) bravely rode with a bloodied face all the way to the Piazza del Campo to finish 48th.
Lotto's Arjen Livyns also finished in the top 50 in Siena with a facial wound which required stitches to his eyebrow.
Soudal-QuickStep's Gianmarco Garofoli arrived home in 45th with a completely bloodied right hand and a shredded kit after crashing on the Monte Sante Marie sector.
It will be an edition to remember with Pogačar's stunning comeback after crashing, however, the 19th men's Strade Bianche will also go down as one of the most brutal, with the dry gravel roads perhaps leading to more crashes than usual.
