Australian cyclist Mark Renshaw has a broken collarbone, lost a tooth and suffered concussion after a mass pile-up at the Tour of Turkey.
Lithuanian Aidis Kruopis, a member of the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team, escaped the carnage inside the last kilometre to win the second stage.
Renshaw was leading out Team Blanco teammate Theo Bos when the Australian fell, starting a chain reaction of falling riders.
“His broken collarbone was coupled with a concussion, a strained neck and a missing tooth,” the team said in a statement.
“He’ll stay in hospital for observation and will have his collarbone operated on in Amersfoort (The Netherlands).
Blanco reported that Bos also suffered cuts and bruises, plus a nasty hematoma on his left hamstring.
They are unsure whether Bos will start the third stage.
Orica-GreenEDGE director Laurenzo Lapage said none of his riders were caught in the crash.
Kruopis narrowly escaped the carnage and Australian teammate Leigh Howard then led him out for the win.
It was Kruopis’ first win of the season and Lapage admitted the team was lucky to avoid the chaos and take out the stage.
“The sprint was very dangerous,” Kruopis said in a statement.
“Leigh helped me a lot.
“After the big crash, I managed to come through with five guys ahead of me.
“I basically started right after the crash happened, and I passed all the guys before me to take the win.”.
Kruopis is second overall, with the same time as German race leader Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), who finished third in the stage.
Howard is 10 seconds behind the overall leaders in seventh place after taking sixth in the stage.
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