According to AD.nl (opens in new tab), Jumbo Visma's Milan Bader was taken to a hospital in Bilbao, Spain, after suffering serious injuries in a crash on stage 5 of the Iturria Basque World Tour.

Dutch outlets confirmed to Bader's father, Patrick, that the 26-year-old Milan underwent immediate surgery to insert a stent into his carotid artery to preserve blood flow to his brain. He also suffered a fractured vertebra and fractures of the clavicle and scapula, for which he was given anesthesia. While team physician Robert Kempers is with Vader at the hospital, Vader's parents headed to Spain to be with Vader.

According to the team, Vader's condition after surgery is stable.

Bader was reportedly involved in a major accident involving about 15 riders in the first 70 km, crashing over a guardrail. Photos showed the Dutchman crashing on a grassy hillside off the race route.

Television cameras tracking the Ituria-Basque region also showed a later crash involving Lucas Hamilton (Bike Exchange-Jayco). Lucas Hamilton also crashed over a guardrail on the descent from the Gonitsagaraygana climb with 68km remaining in the 163.8km stage. Hamilton landed in a tree and avoided a steeper fall.

Bader, a former mountain biker, is in his first professional season with Jumbo-Visma after finishing in the top 10 behind Olympic cross-country race winner Tom Pidcock.

Bader and Hamilton's crash recalled the 2020 crash of new Itzuria race leader Lemko Evenpoel, who suffered a fractured pelvis after crashing over a low stone wall on the descent from Il Lombardia's Solmano.