Giacomo Nizzolo suffers collarbone break in training crash

Giacomo Nizzolo broke his collarbone in a crash while training this weekend, his Israel-Premier Tech team announced on Sunday.

It's the second fracture of the season for the 33-year-old who missed most of the Classics after breaking his wrist in a crash in Milan-San Remo on the final descent from the Poggio.

According to the team's social media post, Nizzolo was training in Switzerland when he was involved in a crash that resulted in a fracture to his right clavicle that was not displaced. This means he can recover without surgery.

"The injury is not expected to impact his preparation for the 2023 season," the team stated.

What the 2023 season will look like for Nizzolo and Israel-Premier Tech remains to be seen. The team did not make the top 18 in the UCI's three-year World Rankings and therefore did not meet the sporting criteria to be included in the WorldTour from 2023-2026.

However, the team's owner Sylvan Adams appeared to be poised to launch a legal objection to the UCI when interviewed by Cyclingnews at the Canadian WorldTour races.

He called the team's "disastrous spring", which was caused by numerous riders falling ill with COVID-19, a "force majeure" - a legal term for an unforeseeable event that can be considered to challenge an agreement.

There have been rumours the UCI could consider keeping 20 teams in the WorldTour, meaning there would be no obligatory invitation for top ProTeam Lotto-Dstny to the Grand Tours unless organisers are deprived of a wildcard slot.

There were also rumours of an expansion to the size of the peloton to allow races to invite more teams but the UCI appeared to shoot down that speculation. The UCI Licence Commission will decide this month which teams will get WorldTour licences.

Should Israel-Premier Tech not be part of the WorldTour, Nizzolo may be able to exercise an option in his contract to move to another team.