The Tour de Pologne erupted into carnage Wednesday as a high-speed crash with 25km to go in stage 3 left a trail of injuries, abandonments, and even one disqualification.
The brutal toll of Wednesday’s high-speed crash only became fully apparent in the injury reports released hours later.
Thankfully, there were no life-threatening injuries or mobility issues, but the banged-up list included fractured cervical vertebrae, cracked ribs, broken collarbones, facial injuries, and more.
Race leader Paul Lapeira and about a half-dozen other riders tumbled into a drainage ditch with about 25km to go, forcing race organizers to stop the race in its tracks as medics and team staffers attended to the fallen racers.
Also read: Officials stop stage 3 at Tour de Pologne after brutal crash
The stage eventually resumed after a medical stoppage, and Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) sprinted to victory. The GC times were neutralized, but the damage from the crash was already done.
Lapeira managed to finish the stage after being initially reported as an abandon, but he was banged up.
“Paul Lapeira suffered a heavy crash in the final part of the third stage of the Tour de Pologne. However, he was able to finish the stage. He sustained multiple abrasions and minor cracks in two ribs. Following the crash, the general classification times were neutralized, so Paul retains the leader’s jersey and will be at the start of the fourth stage [Thursday].”
Lapeira did start Thursday’s fourth stage, with his body wrapped in bandages.
There were no immediate reports of what might have caused the incident on narrow roads descending through a heavily wooded area.
The fallout from the chaos was much worse for others.
Concussions, fractured vertebra, yellow card
Five riders — Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) — did not finish. Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) did not start, and Pierre Thierry (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was disqualified.
Not all of those riders leaving the race were involved in the high-profile crash that forced the race stoppage, but the injury list is unsavory.
Vacek, who started the stage second overall, was the top-placed rider involved in the spill to leave the race.
“Small concussion and five stitches in and around my mouth after yesterday’s crash,” Vacek wrote. “Not the way I wanted to end the Tour de Pologne after a strong start, but I’m staying positive and looking forward to racing again soon.”
Caída importante en la tercera etapa del @Tour_De_Pologne, con el líder Paul Lapeira, Rafal Majka y Mathias Vacek implicados
El tramo final, en #E1 y @StreamMaxES pic.twitter.com/jHpysQoyxc
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) August 6, 2025
Others crashing out included UAE’s Filippo Baroncini, who suffered horrible injuries to his back, clavicle, and face.
“He sustained multiple facial injuries, including a fractured cervical vertebra (no neurological fallout), and facial and clavicular fractures,” a team note read. “He is currently being taken care of in the hospital and is under the supervision of our medical team.”
Luckily, none of those injuries appear to be life-threatening or will impact mobility.
And almost lost in the mayhem was that Arkéa rider Thierry was kicked out of the race, fined, and handed a yellow card.
The post-stage commissaires report revealed that the French rider disqualified, received a yellow card, fined 1,000 CHF, and docked 25 UCI ranking points for “violating rule 2.12.007.7.9, which prohibits using a non-compliant position or point of support on the bicycle that poses a danger to others.”
That is assumed to be the now-banned super-tuck position, but that is not confirmed.