Giro hero Wilco Kelderman in hospital after car hits seven Bora riders

Dutch cyclist Wilco Kelderman appears to be the worst-hit after seven cyclists from the German Bora team were knocked down by a motorist during a training ride.

Bora said Sunday three of their riders were in the hospital and that Andreas Schillinger and their new recruit Kelderman, who came third in the 2020 Giro d'Italia, both suffered fractured vertebrae.

"Several of our riders were involved in an accident with a car, which crossed the road and rode into our training group," said the Bora statement.

"Wilco sustained a concussion and a fractured vertebra. Andreas sustained broken vertebrae in the cervical and thoracic spine.

"For both riders, we're aiming for conservative treatment."

Rudiger Selig, Marcus Burghardt, Anton Palzer, Maximilian Schachmann and Michael Schwarzmann were the other riders knocked down by the car.

Kelderman was at one time in the lead on the 2020 Giro, wearing the pink jersey on stage 20 before Australia's Jai Hindley took it off him and then lost it to eventual champion Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart.