Tom Dumoulin will be forced to rest for at least a week after a crash caused him to abandon the Giro d’Italia.
Sunweb leader Dumoulin pulled out of the race after suffering a gash to his knee on stage four.
The Dutchman lined up the following day, but stepped off the bike just 1.5km into stage five.
Dumoulin underwent an MRI scan on Thursday (May 17) which revealed no further damage, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS, but the 28-year-old will have to spend at least a week off the bike.
In a Twitter on Friday morning (May 17), Dumoulin said: “Back home, feet up.
“Not much luck coming our way this year.”
>>> Fernando Gaviria abandons Giro d’Italia 2019
Dumoulin, Giro d’Italia winner in 2017, had made the Italian Grand Tour his main target but also planned to ride the Tour de France as well for the second year running.
He is now expected to focus his attention solely on the Tour in July, after finishing second in 2018.
Sunweb’s misfortune continued on stage six as their rider Robert Power abandoned on stage six after being caught in an early crash that also brought down race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
Power overstretched his gluteal muscle and was unable to push the pedals.
There was a silver lining for the German team at the conclusion of stage six however, as 23-year-old GC prospect Sam Oomen jumped to 10th overall after finishing in the breakaway on stage six.
Dutchman Oomen was also caught in the same crash that took Power out of the race, but came back to join the break and finish 11th on the stage.
He said: “I wanted to go for the stage victory but a lot went wrong in the finale.
“The guys in in the break were watching me but also marking each other out too. The climb itself wasn’t difficult enough for me to make the difference on, although I could set a strong pace I was missing the little bit of explosiveness that I needed.
“It’s a shame the stage ended like that but it gives me and the team confidence to try again later in the race.”
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