Tao Joghegan Hart was taken away from the scene for further examination. Credit: Eurosport
UK's Tao Geoghegan Hart fractured his left hip in a crash on stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, the latest casualty in what has become a brutal race.
The rider Ineos Grenadiers fell hard in a multi-rider cluster that included all the top contenders for the pink jersey, a hand-to-hand fight that included his teammate and race leader Geraint Thomas and Primož Roglic (Soudal-QuickStep) who finished second overall.
Geohegan Hart, who won the 2020 Giro, was third overall at the start of stage 11, just five seconds behind Thomas and three seconds behind Roglic.
But while Thomas and Roglic quickly re-equipped and rejoined the peloton after the accident, with Tortona 68 km away, Geoghegan Hart was left lying on the pavement and was eventually put on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance.
«After additional evaluation, imaging confirmed that Tao had a left hip fracture that would require surgery,» Ineos tweeted on Wednesday evening. "Tao, the thoughts and best wishes of all your fellow grenadiers are with you today. We wish you a speedy recovery and we know that you have everything you need to come back even stronger!"
The departure of the 28-year-old athlete deprives the race of another big name. and better storylines, with Thomas one of the first to pay his respects after safely crossing the finish line in Thortona to save Maglia Rosa.
The Welshman admitted he might as well have left the race on a stretcher. .
“The UAE guy [Alessandro Covi] was next to me and fell first,” Thomas said of the wet corner crash. “Luckily for me, I just landed on it.
“And then there was chaos behind it, and apparently Tao was badly hurt. Pavel [Sivakov] staggered a little too, and I saw Roglic at the finish line and he had a rather beefy cut on his thigh. I hope they are all right.”
As he left, Geoghegan Hart continued, “This is a great loss for us. This obviously changes our tactics a bit when it comes to big mountain days, but we'll cross that bridge when it comes down to it.»
The 2023 Giro was incredibly grueling, with accidents occurring almost every day.
Minutes after colliding with the pink jersey contenders on Wednesday, Oscar Rodríguez (Movistar) crashed into a house, clutching a traffic sign. to avoid a stronger collision. The Spaniard stayed put and later withdrew from the race.
Covid also ruined the race. Race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was forced to withdraw on Sunday evening after testing positive for the virus, handing over Maglia Rosa to Thomas. Before the start of stage 11 on Wednesday morning, the Belgian was joined by four of his teammates: Jan Hirt, Josef Czerny, Louis Verwake and Mattia Cattaneo left the race with Covid.
In terms of the stage itself, then Mark Cavendish (Astana) was closest to his 17th Giro victory in this race. The Isle of Man rider took third place at Tortona as Pascal Ackermann (Team Emirates UAE) took the photo finish victory over Jonathan Milan (Bahrain winner).
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