World Champion Paolo Bettini is continuing to have bad luck, which could be blamed on the famed 'curse of the rainbow jersey'. The Quick Step rider crashed on a wet descent in the fourth stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Thursday, and was forced to pull out of the race.
"It had just started to rain," Bettini explained, "In order not to run any risks I backed off from the group a little to get my rain jacket passed to me from the team car. For a second I had to take my hands off the handlebars whilst I put the rain jacket on. In that instant Alexandre Botcharov came speeding past me hitting my front wheel which sent me flying into the air. We were doing about 60 kilometres per hour downhill!"
