Broken elbow for Geschke from Vuelta Murcia crash

Simon Geschke's start to the season was disrupted when he was involved in a crash during the final kilometres of the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia stage 1 and suffered a broken right elbow, CCC Team doctor, Dr. Dario Spinelli confirmed in a press release.

"Simon crashed not far from the finish of today's stage in Spain and he was able to get back on his bike and cross the line. However, he was experiencing a lot of pain in his right arm so, he was immediately taken to hospital for observation," Dr. Spinelli explained.

"X-Rays revealed that he has sustained a broken right elbow. He will require surgery at home in Germany but providing everything goes to plan, Simon should be able to resume training around one week later. We will continue to monitor Simon's recovery to determine when he will be able to race again."

It wasn't the way Geschke wanted to end his first race for his new CCC Team.

"I crashed on a roundabout inside the last ten kilometers of the stage. The rider in front of me went down first and the pace was pretty fast so I just couldn't get around him," Geschke said. "I tried but I hit his bike and then went down. Immediately, I felt like there was something not quite right with my elbow and the X-Ray just confirmed that for me.

"Of course, I'm very disappointed. I felt like I was in good shape and that I was on track for the spring. I definitely could have imagined a nicer start to my first race with CCC Team."

Pello Bilbao led an Astana sweep of the stage podium in the two-day race, topping teammates Omar Fraile and Luis Leon Sanchez and world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).