Remco Evenepoel's team doctor has suggested the world champion's injuries from his crashes on stage 5 of Giro d'Italia are not minor. The Soudal-QuickStep medic said Evenepoel was fine after his first crash, though the second incident - inside the 3km to go marker - left him with worse injuries.
Soudal-QuickStep team boss Patrick Lefevere echoed those comments before the start of stage 6 today, saying everyone would have to wait and see how Evenepoel performs.
"Evenepoel is currently in a lot of pain. Now we have to see how he feels day by day," Lefevere told reporters in Naples on Thursday morning. "Today's stage? We'll see how it goes. It certainly won't be an easy race. For the whole day we will have to sweat to maintain the position in the group."
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Having called out Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), yesterday's stage winner, for the crash that marred the end of stage 2, it looked like Evenepoel himself caused the late crash yesterday. With just over 2km to go, in very wet conditions, he looked left and veered to his right, bumping an overtaking rider and crashing, with others also falling.
Soudal-QuickStep's Dr Toon Cruyt said while Evenepoel was left with more serious injuries after the second crash, he was hopeful the rider could recover, though it would likely take a few days. He was mostly concerned about a muscle contraction caused by the impact of the second fall.
“After the first crash Remco was quite okay," Dr Cruyt said of the incident caused by a dog running into the road. "But (after) the second crash, he has a lot of pain on his right side. He has a big haematoma, with a contraction of his muscles there, and problems with the sacrum."
However, he was hopeful that "a good massage and osteopathic treatment" combined with sleeping well would aid Evenepoel and ensure his recovery as fast as possible.
"It will take a few days before this haematoma goes away but we hope the muscle contraction will go away faster," he said, adding today's stage 6 would be a "difficult day" for Evenepoel.
While there are some climbs today, the 162km stage starting and finishing in Naples is not a big day in the mountains. There is a cat 2 ascent in the opening third of the race followed by a cat 3 just after the halfway point. However, while the stage may favour some of the sprinters, rain is forecast again and conditions may be very slippery.
