Sunweb's bad luck continues: Robert Power withdraws after early crash in stage 6
May 16 2019 11:29 pm CET
© Team Sunweb
Team Sunweb's Robert Power has been forced to abandon the Giro d'Italia after being involved in a crash in the first kilometres of the stage. The rider tried to continue but his injuries made it impossible.
Power was involved in the large crash in the peloton 40 kilometres into the stage and although he tried to continue after the assistance from the race doctor, his injuries didn't allow him to keep going. "This is a really disappointing day," said the rider.
"I would have loved to continue. I went down hard in the big crash and tried to keep riding but had to pull out with a lot of pain in my hip. Luckily there is nothing broken but I’m still really disappointed to leave the Giro."
Further examinations didn't show any serious injuries in the rider. "Fortunately x-rays show no breaks or fractures for Robert," said Sunweb's physician Stephan Jacolino. "He has overstretched his gluteal muscle, which meant that he was unable to push on the pedals anymore and it was too painful for him to continue. After a week’s rest it’s likely he will be able to restart training normally."
The team's coach Marc Reef showed the disappointment that the race has brought so far. "This is another blow to the team," he commented. "Robert was in great shape and one of our main contenders to go for stage success.
"It’s even more bad luck and another setback for our team, but we need to move on and make the best out of it again. We’ll continue to take the same aggressive approach as we did yesterday and today with both Louis and Sam in the break, and search for a stage win with the other strong riders that we have here.
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