Pain too much for Luxembourg champion despite strong finish on Cervinia mountaintop
Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) has withdrawn form the Giro d’Italia, suffering from a shoulder injury, just 28km into the 15th stage between Busto Arsizio and the Pian dei Resinelli. The Luxembourg champion crashed on the climb towards the end of stage 11 into Montecatini Terme and dislocated his shoulder and, despite a strong finish to yesterday’s mountaintop finish in Cervinia, the injury has proved too much for him to continue.
Schleck’s crash happened on the small, but steep, climb on the Montecatini Terme finishing circuit, as the Luxemburger rode into the back of Garmin-Barracuda’s Alex Rasmussen. The RadioShack-Nissan rider claimed that Rasmussen was at a virtual standstill while pushing teammate Christian Vande Velde into a better position, which caused a mini-spat between the two riders as the Dane denied it.
As a result of the incident however, Schleck suffered a dislocated shoulder - as well as costing him 46 seconds at the stage finish - and the injury has caused him to abandon.
The Luxembourg champion did managed to finish in the group of overall favourites in yesterday’s stage to Cervinia, although he had looked to be having problems on the earlier climb to the Col de Joux. Towards the top of that climb he could be seen slipping off the back of the peloton, as Liquigas-Cannondale set a steady, metronomic pace, but was one of only a few riders able to respond to a burst put in by then Maglia Rosa Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) as he pursued Garmin-Barracuda’s Ryder Hesjedal.
The withdrawal of Schleck follows that of RadioShack-Nissan’s top sprinter Daniele Bennati, who quit during the first week with a fever.