Broken clavicle for Rigotto

Milram just can't get a break this season. Sprinter Erik Zabel suffered a fall in Ronde van Vlaanderen, and missed out on Paris-Roubaix. Zabel made his comeback in the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen, where he finished 7th, but the team was down another rider before the finish after Italian Elia Rigotto (Milram) fractured his right clavicle just after the start of the race. The 25 year-old winner of stage six of the 2006 Tour Méditerranéen is likely to be out of competition a minimum of four weeks.

The Italian now joins his fellow countrymen Marco Velo and Fabio Sacchi, who crashed in Gent-Wevelgem, Dennis Haueisen, who had surgery for abdominal bleeding, and Ukrainian Volodymyr Diudia, who fell in Paris-Roubaix, on the injured list. Rigotto will have to wait until Friday to find out if an operation is necessary. "My dream, even if I know that it will be difficult to realise, is to be at the beginning of Giro d'Italia," said Rigotto.