Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has suffered no serious injury following his race-ending crash at the Giro d'Italia and will be back on his bike next week.
The 21-year-old collided with a metal guard rail while trying to avoid a downhill crash on stage 17 and, although he remounted and finished the stage, he did not start Thursday's stage 18.
Instead, he returned to Belgium in order to undergo further tests at hospital in Herentals, which ruled out any fractures or lasting damage.
"The examinations confirm the original diagnosis by our medical team at the race in Italy, as reported on Wednesday," read a statement from Deceuninck-QuickStep.
"After a few days, Remco will be able to resume cycling and work towards his remaining goals for the 2021 season."
Evenepoel suffered cuts to his hand, tailbone, knee, and arm, along with bruised ribs and a significant swelling on his left elbow. After a few days of rest, he'll be able to get back on his bike and begin thinking about his next objectives, chiefly the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Giro d'Italia was Evenepoel's first race of the season after an eight-month injury lay-off following his pelvis fracture at Il Lombardia last August, and he may well race sparingly between now and Tokyo. It was originally thought he would do a three-week altitude camp from the middle of June, possibly missing the Belgian national championships.
It remains to be seen if Evenepoel's programme is altered in light of the Giro, where he started strong but faded as the race went on. He appears set to travel to Tokyo with the Belgian team at the earliest opportunity on July 12 in order to acclimatise ahead of the road race on July 24 and the time trial on July 28.
"I believe that he will come out stronger from this Giro," said his coach, Klaas Lodewyck.
"Of course there are points to work on, but we have learned a lot in the past three weeks - information of gold value, which we will analyse well and take with us to the future."
