Crash during time trial training takes down Canada’s Annie Ewart, other riders from Teams Sky and Optum

During a time trial recon ride on Saturday in Richmond, Virginia, things went very, very badly for Teams Sky and Optum, after major crashes took down a total of eight cyclists from both squads.

With the main time trial event of the UCI road world championships just a day away, the calamity couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Sky riders Danny Pate, Luke Rowe and Elia Viviani all bailed hard at 60 kph, costing their team three of next weekend’s road race favourites. On the Optum side, meanwhile, the five-cyclist crash took down Canada’s Annie Ewart, after she and her teammates passed another squad that had pulled off to the side with mechanical troubles.

The incident, reports suggest, had more to do with obstacles on the course than the other team, though. Although the Richmond roads have been re-paved to prepare for competition, both crashes appear to have been caused by bikes making contact with raised manhole covers — one of which was encountered by Optum in the last five kilometres of the circuit, going into a critical final turn.

For Ewart, the resulting crash puts her out of contention for the team time trial — and, as one of her squad’s top competitors, puts Optum’s prospects in Richmond at risk.

The 21-year-old Canadian rider from Victoria, B.C. — whose 2015 season includes highlights like a second-place finish in youth classification at the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Race — was taken from the 38.8 km course to hospital, while teammate Maura Kinsella suffered a concussion, making the American cyclist’s start at Sunday’s competition also uncertain. “Annie has a broken collarbone and will not start,” Optum director Pat McCarty told reporters following the accident, addressing Ewart’s condition.

Saturday’s collision obviously comes as a major setback for Optum, whose goals going into the time trial are fixed on the podium. Last year, the team came just six seconds from a third-place finish, settling with fourth instead.

We have @annieewart @MauraKinsella @amymcharity in the medical tent being checked for concussions. Annie to hospital for shoulder X-ray.

— Optum Pro Cycling (@OPTUMpbKBS) September 19, 2015