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...The next day, in defence of his position, Van Est was chasing the leaders on the descent of the (link). He was following (link) on the descent, a very strong rider who had already won two (link) as well as two Tour Stages, who had superior descending skill. Due to a flat tyre (according to Van Est himself), in conjunction with snow melt and many loose stones on the road he lost control of his bike and went over the cliff. He instinctively kicked his bike away as he fell and of the riders, officials and fans, Belgian rider (link) was the only person to see him go over the ravine.

The ravine was approximately 1,000 feet or 300 meters deep, and much of it was steep enough that a falling person would continue falling all the way to the bottom. Van Est fell about 200 feet or 70 meters trying to grab at the saplings growing on the mountainside to break his fall. Fortunately he slowed and was able to grab hold of a small tree nearby a one meter wide outcrop, which he then made his way to. Even if he wanted to he could not climb back up or down, despite the fact he did not suffer any major injury.

As Van Est precariously sat overlooking a several hundred foot drop he began screaming for help. Fortunately Decock stopped when Van Est went over, giving up his 5th place in the overall standings dropping to 17th by the end of the Tour as a result of the 25 minutes he lost assisting the Dutchman. When the Dutch team car arrived and were told what happened they screamed down the mountain for him for several minutes hearing nothing but echoes. After a few minutes they were able to find his approximate location. It took the team quite some time to tie together every single tire tube they had in order to make a rope that they hoped would reach him. After a great deal of time their 75 meter "rope" reached Van Est and he was able to use the tires to rig together a hoist which he put around his chest under both arms.

Helped by spectators and his manager, he managed to get back to the road. Van Est wanted to continue, but was persuaded to go to the hospital because he had just crashed down a 200 foot ravine...