Team Sky's Kristoffer Halvorsen: He hit the advertising hoarding sending a chunk of it out into the road. But while he looked like he might stay upright, he ended up crashing hard and is now out of action.
Kristoffer Halvorsen crashes out of Team Sky debut stint
Kristoffer Halvorsen has been one of the stars of the international U23 scene in recent years. But his bid to transfer that stardom into the pro ranks will need to wait a little longer.
The 21-year-old suffered a horrible crash in the closing stages of the People's Choice Criterium in Adelaide earlier today.
He got pushed across the road in the sprint and made contact with the advertising hoardings. And while it seemed he may be able to avoid crashing, he eventually hit the deck.
Team Sky has said an X-ray confirmed broken bones in his hand. It means he is now out of the Santos Tour Down Under.
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Riding for Team Joker Icopal and Norway last year, Kristoffer Halvorsen won the Handzame Classic as well as a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir.
He was never out of the top three in the latter in the opening four stages. And he was 4th on stage 5 and 6; securing the points classification.
He was 2nd on a stage of the Tour of Norway and in 2016 also won a stage at the Tour de l'Avenir.
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His crowning glory as an U23 was his world title win in Qatar in 2016. And along with its other new signing Chris Lawless, Team Sky has a formidable young sprint pairing.
Halvorsen began his first stint of racing with Continental team Team Joker Icopal in August, 2015. He had just turned 19 years old at the time.
"I was coming from behind on the right side," Kristoffer Halvorsen said of his crash today.
"A few of the guys started going to the right and I ran out of space. I went into the barriers.
"If I hadn’t broken my hand it would have been OK - I have hardly any scratches on me.
"I can be back on the turbo really quickly because it’s just my hand, but it’s hard to say how long until I’ll be back in action.
"Of course it’s really disappointing, but this is cycling - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you crash.
"I was really looking forward to this trip but now we’ll try and make the best of the situation."
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