Having beaten Mark Cavendish to win a stage of the recent Tour de San Luis, Sacha Modolo’s aim of adding more success at the Tour of Qatar unravelled on yesterday’s opening stage of the race.
The Italian sprinter crashed with 60 kilometres remaining and had to ride the rest of the stage holding onto his handlebars with just one hand. He made it to the finish, losing just over sixteen minutes to the stage winner Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing Team).
He was later diagnosed with a fracture to his scaphoid, the same injury suffered recently by Lars Bak, and will be a non-starter today.
The injury means he is likely to be out for several weeks, although depending on the severity of the fracture, he may be able to resume training soon.
“I am very sorry for the team,” he said in reaction to having to withdraw from the race. “I had very good condition and I intended to make my mark in Qatar and Oman. Now I have to recover quickly and reschedule from scratch the first part of my season.”
The Tour of Qatar continues today with a 14 kilometre team time trial. Bookwalter’s BMC Racing Team is aiming to win the test and thus keep the American in the leader’s jersey.