Race favourite Remco Evenepoel of Belgium was rushed to hospital after crashing his bike into a wall and plunging into a ravine on the Tour of Lombardy cycling classic on Saturday. The Deceuninck-Quick Step rider crashed on the steep descent from the Colma di Sormano that leads to the race finish at Lake Como, hitting a parapet and plunging over the bridge into a ravine. "Remco Evenepoel was treated by doctors and has now been taken to the hospital by ambulance," tweeted his Deceuninck-QuickStep team. "Thanks to everyone who sent their thoughts and best wishes it means a lot to us! At the same time, we kindly ask you not to speculate about his condition, when we'll have an update, we will share it with you." Photos showed the 20-year-old rider conscious but grimacing in pain before being evacuated by ambulance some 20 minutes after his fall wearing a neck brace. Evenepoel had been among a group of seven riders at the top of the terrible wall of Sormano, about fifty kilometers from the finish line of the race which got underway in Bergamo. The descent was at high speed with Evenepoel losing control under pressure from two-time race winner Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. Evenepoel was favourite to win his first 'Monument' classic after claiming four stage race wins in the Tour de San Juan, of Tour of the Algarve, Tour de Burgos and the Tour of Poland. It was the second serious crash for the Deceuninck-Quick Step team with Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen badly injured in a horrifying crash on the opening day of the Tour of Poland. Jakobsen was placed in a medically-induced coma but returned home to the Netherlands this week after undergoing surgery. "For the team the hardest part of this race was the situation with Fabio," Evenepoel said after his ninth victory of the season in Poland. ea/dmc