Mar 27, 2015 – Three-time winner Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland suffered two fractured vertebrae in a crash during the E3 Harelbeke on Friday and will miss the rest of the Spring Classics.

AFP/Yuzuru Sunada

The crash, on the cobbles of the first classic of the season, also took down a couple of the other favorites, John Degenkolb and Lars Boom, although they carried on. Three other riders, however, were taken to hospital.

“X-rays have confirmed the worst: 2 fractures of vertebrae in lower back for @f_cancellara means no spring campaign. #E3H,” tweeted Cancellara’s Trek Factory Racing team.

The injury is a massive blow for Cancellara, coming in a race referred to as a mini (218km) Tour of Flanders as it takes in many of the same brutal climbs and cobbled sections. This race leads into the Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday before the Tour of Flanders and the final cobbled classic, the Paris-Roubaix, on the two following Sundays. Cancellara, 34, won the Tour of Flanders in 2010, 2013 and 2014 and Paris-Roubaix in 2006, 2010 and 2013.