Lorena Vives was the favorite to win the pre-race Bourges des Pannees Classic, but had to settle for second place. One glance at her car behind the podium and you can see why. A spoke was sticking out of the rear wheel.

After being pelted with champagne by winner and world champion Elisa Balsamo, Vives confirmed that she had sprinted with a broken wheel.

She explained that she had sustained damage in a group crash that occurred on the run-in to De Panne. She managed to avoid crashing and continued to lead the race, but felt something was wrong.

"I could have avoided the crash, but someone crashed into my wheel and I could feel directly that the wheel was no longer straight," Vives told reporters in De Panneh.

"But the bike wasn't behind the peloton anymore and there was too much going on to switch bikes. So I had to go."

With 2km to go, things got even more complicated when Charlotte Kuhl, who was leading her, crashed. Vives kept her cool and was on Balsamo's wheel when the sprint began, but although she pulled away from the rest of the field, she could not get any closer to the world champion.

"The leadout always helps, but sometimes you have to do it alone," Vives said. In the wind it was a little too early, but it was either do that or get boxed in."

As for Spoke, there's no telling how much power that last line kick cost her.

"At that moment, I didn't know how much that was going to affect me. I was more scared that the wheel would break and I would crash, that I would get blocked."

"Eventually I was able to sprint. I lost power, but it was either buy a new bike or never come back to the peloton again"

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Despite the misfortune, Wiebes expressed satisfaction with his first runner-up finish of the season after three consecutive wins. One of them was over Balsamo in the Ronde van Drenthe, and the two appear to have a new rivalry.

"It was a really chaotic race, there were a lot of crashes and some bad luck for the team. It was good to finish second in the end," said Wiebes.

"It was good to battle with Elisa. I think it's very good for the sport. It was good to battle with Elisa, I think it's very good for the sport. She proved that she deserves the world champion's jersey.