[WK WIELRENNEN RICHMOND] #1 - Het is bijna zover

quote:

Team Sky’s hopes of a strong performance in Sunday’s World Championships team time trial have suffered a major blow with three of their riders taking a heavy fall in training.

Danny Pate, Elia Viviani and Luke Rowe crashed at nearly 60kph while out testing the time trial course. The full extent of their injuries are not yet known.

“It’s true that they had a crash,” Rod Ellingworth confirmed to Cyclingnews. “Luke, Elia and Danny Pate all came down pretty hard. They’re all back at the team hotel but they’ve all lost plenty of skin that’s for sure.

“Danny has lost a lot of skin and it looks like Viviani has banged up his knee. We’re still waiting on a full set of check ups to see what the extent of the damage is but obviously this compromises what we were here to do.”

According to Ellingworth Team Sky hit a pothole in the road while out riding the course in Richmond.

“There are a lot of holes on the road and they have paint on them but at 60kph, and with such bright sunlight they just might not have seen it. They are banged up and feeling rough at the moment. All we can do now is give them a few hours and a night’s sleep. Like I said though, this certainly compromises our race for sure.”