Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) were the favorites to win Thursday's Tirreno-Adriatico stage 4 tortoleto, but the two Classics specialists crashed with 4km to go.

Pidcock fell back from the front of the pack and Van Aert appeared to be moving forward, but the Jumbo Visma rider was caught between teammate Kane Bowman and Pidcock.

The riders collided, both going down, but fortunately not involving the other rider.

The two were fierce rivals, but they got up, shorts torn and skin chafed, apologized to each other, and rode together, despite being eliminated from contention for the stage win.

"We were fighting for position and it's the kind of accident that can happen at that point," Van Aert told Het Nieuwsblad. 'I was trying to defend my position with the rest of the team. I think Tom got stuck behind me and tried to get through the hole. Just when I thought I had passed him, I felt someone behind me getting caught on my bike and dragging me to the ground."

"The damage looks ok. Not much pain. I scraped a lot, but that sliding makes sense. Other than that, I think I'm okay."

Pidcock also told Cycling News he is fine.

"I'm fine. I don't really know what happened." Wout apologized, saying it was his fault.

"I was just trying to stay out of the way of my team and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. I'm pretty sore tonight and can't sleep, but I'm okay."

At least Van Aert could take solace in the fact that his teammate Primoš Roglic took his place and took the stage win.

"Primoš winning is a very big band-aid on the wound. It's great to start with a team like this and to know that we have several chances. It's not my habit to fall down, but I did fall down right away. But it was great to see everyone stay calm and Primozh made it all the way to the end."