Lukas Nerurkar breaks jaw, suffers concussion in Trofeo Laigueglia crash

Lukas Nerurkar was forced to abandon Trofeo Laigueglia on Wednesday after being involved in a crash, with his EF Education-EasyPost team announcing after medical checks that the 21-year-old Briton had a broken jaw and concussion.

"He has been discharged from the hospital and will travel back to Girona where he will undergo surgery in the next few days," EF Education-EasyPost said in a medical update on social media.

Along with his EF Education-EasyPost teammates, Nerurkar was at the front of the peloton, setting a tempo on a mission to catch the break when he went down, inside of 70 kilometres to go in the 190.7km one-day race.

Nerurkar started with the early season races in Australia - the Villawood Men's Classic, the Tour Down Under –where he finished fourth in the best young rider classification – the Surf Coast Classic and the Cadel Evans Road Race.

Trofeo Laigueglia was Nerurkar's return following a break after that block of racing, and he was then expected to take on the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico which starts on Monday.

The plans for the rider who can make his mark on punchy climbs, however, will now have to be reshuffled, with the team not yet delivering any indication of how long Nerurkar will be on the sidelines for.

It is Nerurkar's second year as a professional with EF Education-EasyPost, with the rider who excels on the punchy climbs, claimed his first victory with the team in 2024 at the Tour de Kyushu Kokura Castle Criterium. Later that week he also secured second place in the overall standings at the Tour de Kyushu.

Before turning professional, as a U23 racer in 2023, he won a stage at the Giro Next Gen and the Orlen Nations Grand Prix. He also finished sixth overall and earned the Best Young Rider title at Spain’s 2.1 ranked O Gran Camiño.