Flakemore breaks collarbone in post-race crash

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BMC Racing Team reported today that Campbell Flakemore, the young neo-pro who spent most of Wednesday's stage 2 in a breakaway with Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) and Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), broke his collarbone in a crash while riding from the end of the stage to the race hotel.

"BMC Racing Team's @cflakemore crashed and broke his left collarbone while riding to the team hotel after @tourdownunder Stage 2," the team posted on their Twitter account. "BMC Racing Team's @docmajor reports @cflakemore crashed on a descent, breaking his left collarbone and suffering minor road rash."

In a later statement, BMC team doctor Scott Major said Flakemore will undergo surgery Thursday in Adelaide.

"It was a clean break in the middle part of the clavicle, which is the best place for a fracture to occur," Dr. Major said. "It is also most amenable to fixing it surgically."

Flakemore revealed he crashed at speed.

"We were going pretty quickly – maybe 55 or 60 kilometers an hour," he said. "It was a left-hand turn and on the shoulder there was gravel or I maybe hit a bit of a groove. The next thing I knew I was on the ground. As soon as I got up, I knew something in my shoulder or collarbone was pretty bad."

Cadel Evans said Flakemore was unlucky to crash after riding so well during the stage.

"He has really shown his maturity and he looks like a rider to me who has the capabilities to utilise his physical potential which is a pretty rare combination," Cadel Evans said on his neo-pro teammate. "This is really unlucky for him and after what he did … what a good job he is doing."

"We were in a bit of a difficult situation [Tuesday] riding back," he added. "We were riding fast to avoid crashes and people. Unfortunately we had an unlucky and unfortunate situation that we and particularly Campbell found himself in."

BMC's sports director Fabio Baldato added that the loss of Flakemore would be felt for the remainder of the week.

"He is a really great teammate, great worker. All the guys are sad with what happened ... [a] stupid thing," Baldato said. "Maybe he was tired, too relaxed ... then stupid crash."

"I still have five other strong riders for Cadel," he added. "I am confident they can do the work of Campbell."

Flakemore, who won the U23 time trial world championship in September, joined BMC for his neo-pro season this year. The 22-year-old Australian made his way into Wednesday's stage 2 breakaway about 15km into the 150km route and spent most of his day working with his fellow escapees. The trio was eventually caught with about 25km remaining. Flakemore finished 113th, nearly six minutes behind winner Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar).