Qatar crash leaves Modolo with likely scaphoid fracture

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Crossing the line nursing his left wrist and a possible fracture to his scaphoid, Sacha Modolo's Tour of Qatar ambitions appear to be over. The Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox sprinter crossed the Stage 1 finish line more than 16 minutes behind the day's winner Brent Brookwater, clearly in pain before having his injuries assessed.

His Italian team will likely start without its main sprinter if today's x-rays conclude his wrist is in fact broken. Diagnosis after the stage was inconclusive according to the rider who tweeted shortly after the stage.

"Fall from "stupid" and 60 km events taking only the handlebar with your left hand. Now visits hoping there is nothing broken," he tweeted.

"The symptoms are broken scaphoid but without x-ray you can not understand. Tomorrow we're going to do is x-ray and see .... Mah .."

It's a disappointing blow for the 25-year-old who was clearly in good forming following his performances at Tour de San Luis. Modolo finished second to Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) on the opening stage in Argentina before getting one back on the Manxman in Stage 2.

The month of February has not treated the Italian well over the past two years. It was around this time in 2012 when Modolo and his teammate Marco Coledan were shot at whilst on a training ride near Scomigo di Conegliano, Italy.

The full extent of Modolo's injuries is expected with the coming days.