UAE Team Emirates have confirmed that Joe Dombrowski will not continue in the Giro d’Italia after being diagnosed with concussion following his high-speed crash in the final kilometres of Wednesday’s stage to Cattolica.
The American turned turned 30 on Wednesday but instead of celebrating his birthday he was left in pain after hitting a race marshal indicating traffic furniture in the middle of the road just four kilometres from the finish.
Dombrowski went down hard and sparked a crash that lead to Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) Francois Bidard (AG2R Citroën) also going down. Both fractured their collarbone, with Landa also fracturing several ribs and ending his hopes of overall success in the Giro d’Italia.
Dombrowski, despite looking stunned, managed to get up and finish the stage and was even awarded the mountains classification jersey on the podium.
UAE Team Emirates said he had not suffered any fractures but had suffered “likely concussion” with further tests confirming the diagnosis on Thursday morning.
“Formal neuro-physiological testing at the team hotel last night revealed a balance impairment. This morning he was reassessed and there is a further increase in the balance impairment. He is officially diagnosed with concussion and will not continue the race,” the teams said.
Dombrowski’s race-ending crash cruelly came just a day after the greatest triumph of his career on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia to Sestola.
The American dropped Italy’s Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) on the final climb to take his first-ever WorldTour win and take the blue mountains jersey. He was also within reach of the race leader’s maglia rosa as stage 6 returned to the mountains with a 15km climb above Ascoli Piceno.
