Crash forces Visconti to withdrawal
12 June 2013

Tour de Suisse (st. 5)

Italian leaves Tour de Suisse due to serious bruises and skin loss after falling while in 4th overall, on top form. Flat stage keeps Costa in 3rd GC

After his resurrection -including two stage victories- in the recent Giro d’Italia and following a great performance on stage one in the Tour de Suisse -where he was sitting in 4th overall-, bad luck hit Giovanni Visconti today during stage four of the Helvetic stagerace. The Movistar Team was forced to abandon the event after a crash in the opening phase of a day that did not make any other major changes in the GC.

Visconti fell in the middle of a bunch going at high speed, and the impact with the pavement, despite not involving any fractures, caused him serious abrasions and loss of skin in some zones. Assisted by the race doctor on his bike, the wounds advised against Visconti staying into the race as he was immediately moved to the Kantonsspital in Baden, where complementary checks ruled out any other major injuries. After his bruises were treated -with one of them in his left thigh requiring some stitches-, the Movistar Team rider is OK to presumably head back home in Italy tomorrow to continue his recovery.

The stage did not bring any other news, with Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (KAT) winning a mass sprint where José Joaquín Rojas was 16th again, while Rui Costa, always perfectly supported by his team-mates, paid attention all day and kept his third place in the general classification behind Roman Kreuziger (TST) and yellow jersey Frank (BMC). Stage six on Thursday will bring a hilly finish for the 188km between Leuggern and Meilen.