The BORA-hansgrohe rider was descending into Como, enroute to seventh in a tough edition of Il Lombardia, when a vehicle driven by a member of the public turned across his path, leaving the German rider little chance to avoid a collision.
He picked himself up and completed the race in seventh, but was clearly frustrated and agitated riding into the finish. The team subsequently confirmed that Schachmann sustained a broken collarbone in the crash, with the rider himself tweeting out that he felt that he 'didn't have his own fortune in his hands'.
"To crash like this is a huge pity, and we hope that he will be ok. He was showing good form, and has some significant races coming up, such as national championships and the Tour de France. After the race, he went to the hospital for x-rays, and we are now awaiting the results," sports director Jens Zemke said.
"We performed an initial examination of Max straight after the finish, and we decided that he should undergo further checks. Therefore we are travelling to the hospital, where he will have an x-ray to determine if he sustained any fractures. We will provide further information when we know the results,“ Bora-Hansgrohe doctor Jan Petersohn said via the team press release.
The UCI quickly announced that they would be investigating the circumstances of how the unauthorised vehicle came to be on the race course, issuing a statement after the race.
"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is investigating the circumstances of the crash caused by a private car in the final kilometres of the UCI WorldTour race Il Lombardia (Italy) on Saturday.
"Bora-hansgrohe rider Maximilian Schachmann was brought down by the car that pulled onto the road in front of him towards the end of the 231km race. Events on the UCI WorldTour calendar are of the highest level and require fully closed roads at all times. The UCI will consider lodging a complaint with the Disciplinary Commission against the event organiser RCS Sport.
"The UCI wishes a prompt recovery to Maximilian Schachmann as well as to Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) who was injured in an unrelated incident earlier in the race."
Schachmann had been scheduled to ride the Tour de France, but the injury will almost certainly rule the talented German out of racing the grand tour.
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) won Il Lombardia from George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) but the event was also marred by a sickening crash for Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep), which saw the young star rider disappear over the edge of a bridge into a ravine.
