Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team) was only in his third day of a return to competition when the Belgian crashed midway through Friday's stage 3 of the Dubai Tour. Lodewyck, who had surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat in September, fractured his clavicle in the wreck.
The Belgian was one of several victims of a length of carpet that had been placed over a traffic-calming grate in the road after the exit of a tunnel. The rug lifted off the ground as the riders crossed over it, twisting through the peloton and causing several crashes.
"This carpet that was in the road came up by the wind of the peloton and it suddenly blocked my front wheel and before I knew it, I was on the ground," Lodewyck said. "It was a hard crash. At first I thought everything was OK. But after a minute or two, it felt pretty painful in the right shoulder and I decided to stop."
"X-rays confirmed a non-displaced fracture of the right clavicle," BMC Racing Team doctor Roger PalFreeman said. It is the same collarbone that Lodewyck broke last June while racing with the Belgian national team.
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