UAE Team Emirates director Mauro Gianetti said it was "too early to speak about the Tour de France" after star rider Tadej Pogacar suffered a broken wrist during Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycling classic.
Pogacar, 22, has been in irrepressible form this season, the Slovenian registering 12 victories including significant wins in the Paris-Nice, Tour of Flanders, Vuelta a Andalucia, Amstel Gold Race, and La Fleche Wallonne.
The two-time Tour de France champion was once again favourite to add to his haul in Belgium on Sunday, but a crash 85km into the race saw him withdraw, and the team doctor confirmed Pogacar had been taken to a hospital in Genk to undergo scans and surgery.
"[Pogacar] suffered fractures to the left scaphoid and lunate bones," Dr Adrian Rotunno, UAE Team Emirates medical director, said. "The scaphoid will require surgery which he will undergo this afternoon with a specialist hand surgeon here in Genk."
A few hours later, Dr Rotunno added: "The surgery on [Pogacar]'s scaphoid was successful and he will travel home tomorrow for recovery and rehabilitation."
Pogacar, the world's top-ranked road cyclist, is not scheduled to race again until the Tour de France at the start of July, although his wrist injury will raise concerns about his preparation.
"We are crossing our fingers that he will recuperate quickly," Gianetti said. "It's too early to speak about the Tour de France."
Pogacar's crash denied fans the chance of a rare head-to-head with Remco Evenepoel, who won the race to retain his title.
World champion Evenepoel broke away with 30km to go when Tom Pidcock refused an offer to work together. Evenepoel shrugged, powered away and finished the 258km race in 6hrs 15min 49sec with Pidcock second 1min 06sec behind, outsprinting Santiago Sanchez in third.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider won the race last year in a similar manner, and on both occasions was enthusiastically cheered home by the crowds.
"It's magnificent to win here again, above all in this beautiful jersey," said the 23-year-old Belgian, pointing at his world champion's rainbow striped jersey.
"You never like to hear that horrible sound, see another rider fall," said Evenepoel of Pogacar's crash.
"The road was slippery, I send him my best wishes."
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
What is safeguarding?
“Safeguarding, not just in sport, but in all walks of life, is making sure that policies are put in place that make sure your child is safe; when they attend a football club, a tennis club, that there are welfare officers at clubs who are qualified to a standard to make sure your child is safe in that environment,” Derek Bell explains.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
