(Sporza)
Moment of impact: The driver of a medical motorbike hitting Belgian Stig Broeckx in the Kurne-Brussels-Kurne bicycle race on Sunday.
The driver of a medical motorcycle struck a cyclist from behind and sent him crashing to the ground in a bike race in Belgium on Sunday.
The rider, Belgian Stig Broeckx, 25, was taken to the hospital, his team said.
The motorbike driver, part of the official race support, did not stop.
Broeckx was left sitting upright on the ground and in shock.
Broeckx had been riding on the front of the peloton before drifting over toward the right side of the road.
The motorbike driver, who could be seen coming up behind Broeckx, failed to stop or to move around the cyclist.
Broeckx rides for the Belgian Lotto Soudal team and was racing in the Kurne-Brussels-Kurne semi-classic, one of the opening races of Belgium's famed cobbled-classic season.
UPDATE (8:15 p.m.): Broeckx's team issued the following statement later on Sunday:
Stig Broeckx was hit during the match by a motorcyclist and came hard fall. He was transferred to the hospital of Deinze. The diagnosis is as follows: displaced fracture in his right collarbone, crack in the rib and a bruised hand. Tonight Burnley will undergo surgery to repair the broken collarbone. By which various injuries, he will not head to the coming weeks.
Here's the moment the driver hit Broeckx:
The race organizer apologized, saying it would try harder to ensure that there were safer racing conditions in future races, Nieuwsblad reported, but refrained from making any further comments about the circumstances that led to the accident.
It's the latest in a number of dramatic crashes involving riders and cars and motorcycles.
Fellow pro cyclist Manuel Quinziato tweeted that riders should not be passed at high speed:
UPDATE (11:44 a.m., February 29): The general manager of one of the sport's biggest teams, BMC Racing, wrote an open letter to the International Cycling Union (UCI) calling for improved safety for riders:
On September 1, 2015, less than one year ago, I wrote a similar letter after an alarming number of crashes involving vehicles had taken place in the peloton since the beginning of the 2015 season. Despite my reaching out for help at that time, the problem became even more prominent as the season went on and we watched in disbelief. Now here I am again asking the powers to be to take notice.