HTC-Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish looked poised to go for the sprint in the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, when the Manxman hit to pavement hard with less than 10 kilometers left in the stage.
At first it looked as if Cavendish was seriously hurt, but he was able to get back on his bike and continue, although losing his chance to go for a victory.
"It was the usual. He has some scrapes and fortunately he has not broken anything," explained Brian Holm to DR Sporten.
The cause of the crash is not clear at this point, although his wheel and fork appeared heavily damaged. The extent of his injury is not yet known, but he was expecting to defend his Milan-Sanremo title this coming weekend. After a tough start to the season thus far, this is bad news for the world's fastest sprinter.