Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders Dries Devenyns and Tony Martin suffered a crash at the top of the final climb of Vuelta al Ciclista Pais Vasco on Monday, Alto de San Miguel.
Dries Devenyns abandoned, and was taken to the hospital immediately for further examinations. Devenyns was diagnosed with a broken radial bone of the left arm as a consequence of the crash. Tomorrow Dries will return to Belgium to pass further examinations with the team medical staff, and possibly undergo surgery.
"I was there in the first position, but in a certain moment Van Den Broeck crashed in front of me and I couldn't avoid him," Devenyns said. "I went to the ground, and we were also going at a high speed. Now I have this fracture of my left arm for a third time. I am not really lucky with these kind of things in my career. It is really a shame because the condition was good and I was looking forward to the Ardennes Classics. Now I have to stay calm, as there is nothing I can do. I can only recover as best I can."
Tony Martin was able to finish the race, but immediately went to the hospital to determine the extent of injuries to his left wrist after hitting the ground hard. The X-rays of today did not show any fractures. More examination will be done in the next days if necessary.
"We were riding in the first part of the peloton and I only heard the noise of the crash and suddenly we were laying on the ground," Martin said. "There was immediate pain in my left wrist and I thought maybe it was the old fracture of last year during the Tour de France. But the first thing was to get to the final and not to lose too much time, then to see at the hospital if there were any fractures. Fortunately, the results seemed to exclude any fractures. So, it's more important that I am OK, than the fact that I lost time."
Tony Martin will take the start of the second stage.
