For top sprinter Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) the classic season ends after his unfortunate crash at Milan-Sanremo on Saturday. The man from Rostock suffered a broken collarbone and travelled to Belgium on Sunday to be operated in Herentals near Antwerp “Unfortunately not the way I wanted to end Milan-Sanremo, now it’s time for the operation. I’ll be back,” twittered the 35-year-old.
Greipel was at 109. Primavera after a convincing performance on the way to a top result when his team mate Jasper De Buyst fell in the descent from Poggio about four kilometres before the finish just before Greipel and fell over his helper: “In a fraction of a second it turns from very good to very bad. Months, weeks, everything gone,” said Greipel’s disappointed team boss Marc Sergeant.
The Briton Mark Cavendish suffered relatively minor injuries in his horrible-looking crash, as his team Dimension Data reported. In addition to a rib fracture, bruises and abrasions, the 32-year-old may have suffered a ligament injury in the ankle. However, this still needs to be examined in more detail.
Cavendish had raced against a road divider on the flat passage between Cipressa and Poggio after a roundabout and was catapulted over it in a high arch. At first he was lying motionless on the road. For Cavendish it was the third violent fall within a few weeks. Previously, he suffered a concussion on the Abu Dhabi Tour and then suffered a broken rib and facial injuries on Tirreno-Adriatico.