Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - Double Olympic road cycling champion Remco Evenepoel was rushed to hospital with a broken collar-bone when the door of a postal van was opened on him in Brussels during a training run Tuesday.

The Belgian won the individual time trial and the road race at the Paris Olympics and won the best young rider’s jersey at the Tour de France in July.

The former national youth footballer lay stricken and ashen-faced, but conscious, with his bike broken in two by the force of the impact in the Belgian capital, according to witnesses.

Quick-Step Soudal boss Patrick Lefevere said Evenepoel had called him shortly after the fall, explaining the postwoman had opened a door on him whilst he passed the stationary van.

Belgian media reported widely that Evenepoel had a broken collar-bone and would be transferred to a specialist hospital to have it operated upon.

The 24-year-old has a history of dramatic crashes, plunging into a ravine in Italy in 2020 and early this season suffering a high-speed downhill fall at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Evenepoel successfully defended his world time-trial title in Zurich in September and is a former winner of the Vuelta a Espana.