Mikel Nieve crashes out of the final race of his career at Il Lombardia

Mikel Nieve (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) had an unwelcome and abrupt end to the final race of his career at Il Lombardia on Sunday. The Basque climber crashed on the descent of an early climb in the first half of the race and had to abandon due to an injury to his shoulder.

"The ending that nobody wanted for a special day for the Navarrese," his team wrote on social media.

Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) went down in the same crash and also abandoned the race.

Nieve, 38, is best known for a trio of stage wins in the Giro d'Italia, in particular his first in 2011 where he held off the chase of Alberto Contador in the rain on the climb to Gardeccia-Val di Fassa. He also won stages in the Vuelta a España and Criterium du Dauphiné.

After five seasons with Euskaltel-Euskadi, Nieve moved to Team Sky in 2014, where he made his mark as a super domestique for Chris Froome in three of his Tour de France wins. He moved to Mitchelton-Scott in 2018 and remained there until this season when he joined Caja Rural.

The race also ended in heartbreak for 39-year-old Domenico Pozzovivo, who crashed in a similar part of the race. The Italian was taken for scans of his left shoulder, elbow and ribs, according to his Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert team.

The departure was a bitter shame for Pozzovivo, who was on good form and finished third in the Giro dell'Emilia last week.