Fernando Gaviria out of Tour de San Luis with fractured arm

Etixx sprinter went down in a crash on stage five and will not start stage six

Fernando Gaviria wins Stage 2 of the 2016 Tour de San Luis. Photo: Graham Watson

(Image credit: Watson)

Fernando Gaviria, the young sprinter who burst onto the scene at last year's Tour de San Luis, has been forced to abandon this year's race.

The Etixx-Quick Step sprinter went down in a crash with 25km to go on stage five and x-rays revealed a fracture to the radius bone in his left arm.

>>> Tour de San Luis: German Tivani wins stage five as big crash hampers peloton

Three other Etixx riders went down in the same pile-up, meaning four of the squad's six riders were involved in the incident.

Among the other fallers from the Belgian team was Rodrigo Contreras, another young Colombian rider and at the time the leader of the young rider classification.

He suffered a cut to his right knee that required 15 stitches and as such was also forced to withdraw ahead of stage six.

Maximiliano Richeze and Stijn Vandenbergh were the other two Etixx riders to require medical attention as a result of the crash, but the team says that both are presently planning to continue with the race.

An update on the condition and recovery of Contreras and Gaviria will be released by their team in the next few days.

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Jack Elton-Walters hails from the Isle of Wight, and would be quick to tell anyone that it's his favourite place to ride. He has covered a varied range of topics for Cycling Weekly, producing articles focusing on tech, professional racing and cycling culture. He moved on to work for Cyclist Magazine in 2017 where he stayed for four years until going freelance. He now returns to Cycling Weekly from time-to-time to cover racing, review cycling gear and write longer features for print and online.