HTC suffers double blow in Giro: Pinotti and Lewis crash out

Marco Pinotti leads chase, Giro d'Italia 2011, stage five

Team HTC-Highroad lost both Marco Pinotti and Craig Lewis in a crash at the Giro d'Italia today near Domodossola. They both were taken to a hospital, American Lewis with a broken femur and Italian Pinotti with part of his pelvis fractured.

"I saw in the middle of the road was a traffic island, they crashed on it," HTC's sports director, Valerio Piva told Cycling Weekly. "Pinotti had a lot of pain, was not able to move his legs. Now, they are both in the hospital: Pinotti is getting x-rays and the race doctor already called to tell me that Craig broke his right leg."

Pinotti led the race at the end of the first day thanks to his team's time trial win. The following day to Parma, in the race leader's pink jersey, he worked for sprinter Mark Cavendish. Cavendish won two stages last week before abandoning to prepare for the Tour de France.

Yesterday, Pinotti finished second in the stage through his hometown of Bergamo to San Pellegrino Terme. His and Lewis' Giro d'Italia, though, ended about 35 kilometres from the mountaintop finish to Macugnaga.

Rain made conditions worse in the final of the 19th leg. Katusha led the race for its leader Joaquim Rodríguez, behind Pinotti and Lewis worked to defend HTC's classification leader, Kanstantsin Sivtsov. They both clipped a traffic island, which stopped Lewis immediately. Pinotti continued, but abandoned only a few kilometres later.

"There was a [traffic] sign, you have to cover it with padding to protect it, the racers come at full gas and don't see it," added Piva. "You don't see that if you are on the bike because it's not very high."

Piva paused to reflect.

"We lost two riders now, and Pino was one of the favourites for the time trial on Sunday. Kasta is going very well, but now we don't have two key helpers for him. Normally, Craig and Pino stay with him in the final. Now we don't have this, we need to do everything alone."

Pinotti and Lewis are both at the Domodossola hospital. X-rays, read a race medical bulletin, showed a broken right acetabulum, the part of the pelvis that meets the femur. He also suffered bruising on his right shoulder.

Kasta sits fifth overall and must defend his lead in tomorrow's leg to Sestriere. He'll have to rely on only three HTC team-mates.

Sky's Russell Downing crashed today, too. He climbed cyclo-cross style out of the ditch, continued and finish. He's at the hospital for a check, but, according to initial reports, he's fine to continue.

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Giro 2011: Who will win?

Giro d'Italia 2011: Stage reports

Stage 18: Capecchi takes Giro stage win as contenders take day off

Stage 17: Ulissi prevails in controversial Giro sprint

Stage 16: Contador lords it over the rest in Giro TT

Stage 15: Nieve wins mountain marathon as Contador continues at the top

Stage 14: Anton conquers Zoncolan in shortened stage

Stage 13: Contador consolidates Giro overall as Rujano takes stage

Stage 12: Cavendish holds off Appollonio to take second victory

Stage 11: Gadret grabs dramatic stage win

Stage 10: Cavendish opens his Giro account

Stage nine: Contador storms Etna to take Giro lead

Stage eight: Gatto springs late attack to take win

Stage seven: Neo-pro De Clercq wins by a whisker

Stage six: Ventoso steals Giro stage six win

Stage five: Weening holds on to take stage and maglia rosa

Stage four: Tearful Farrar and Leopard-Trek lead riders across stage four finish line

Stage three: Vicioso victory overshadowed by Weylandt crash

Stage two: Petacchi wins as Cavendish takes lead

Stage one: HTC-Highroad wins Giro's opening team time trial

Giro d'Italia 2011: Photo galleries

Stage 18 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 17 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 16 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 15 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 14 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 13 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 12 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 11 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage 10 photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage nine photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage eight photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage seven photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage six photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage five photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage four photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage three photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage two photo gallery by Graham Watson

Stage one photo gallery by Graham Watson

Giro d'Italia 2011: Live text coverage

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage 19 live text updates

All previous live coverage can be found here>>

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage 16 live text updates

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage 13 live text updates

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage 11 live text updates

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage seven live text updates

Giro d'Italia 2011 stage five live text updates

Follow the 2011 Giro d'Italia live with Cycling Weekly

Giro d'Italia 2011: Start list

Giro d'Italia 2011: Start list

Giro d'Italia 2011: TV schedule

Giro d'Italia 2011: British Eurosport TV schedule

Related links

Giro d'Italia 2010: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

 

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