Domenico Pozzovivo is set to leave hospital today after suffering serious facial injuries in his crash during Monday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia to Sestri Levante.
The Italian climber needed 25 stiches in a head wound but was fortunate not to suffer a head trauma. He is expected to travel to Pisa from the Genoa hospital and then fly to Lamezia Terme, near his home in Montalbano Jonico, in the south of Italy.
“In three or four days I hope to get back on my bike and start training again,” Pozzovivo told Gazzetta dello Sport. “First I’ve got to speak to the doctors because I don’t want to risk affecting by facial scars to make a quick recovery.”
“I feel better but I’m still tired. I can’t actually remember anything about the crash or the hundred metres before it. I couldn’t resist watching the Giro on television. It was good to see Formolo win but it hurts not being there. The Giro was my goal of the season. I hope to return in tine for the Tour de Suisse. Riding the Tour would be a crazy idea but perhaps not too crazy…”
Davide Formolo’s victory at the Giro d’Italia gave Italian cycling a boost after a serious lack of result by Italian riders in recent months.
An Italian rider has not won a monumental Classic since Damiano Cunego won his third Il Lombardia in 2008. However La Gazzetta dello Sport tried to be optimistic about the future of Italian cycling on Wednesday, revealing that there are 41 Italian riders aged under 25 in the peloton this season. Many of the best, such as Formolo and his Cannondale-Garmin teammate Davide Villella, are in non-Italian teams but that did not stop Gazzetta dello Sport from pointing out that there are only 37 young Belgian riders in the peloton and only 28 from France.
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Mixed day for LottoNL-Jumbo on the road to La Spezia
The fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia was one of mixed success for the LottoNL-Jumbo team, with their GC contender Steven Kruijswijk losing time and Robert Wagner missing the time cut. On the up side, the team managed to get Martijn Keizer into the break but a collision with a spectator with 80 kilometres to go almost put an end to that. Keizer was with his fellow escapees on an unclassified ascent when the incident happened.
“I hope the boy is OK,” Keizer said afterwards. “It happened in a clumsy way. A rider attacked but when he saw that I was in his wheel, he steered to the side, and that was when the little boy and I collided.
“I felt that we were riding for the victory, although I knew I needed luck to win. There were quite a few strong climbers with us. In the final kilometres, I still was able to help Steven, although I wasn’t fully fit anymore because of my crash.”
Keizer eventually finished just over 13 minutes behind the stage winner Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin). His team leader Kruijswijk didn’t fare much better, giving away more than eight minutes to the young Italian on what proved to be a tough day for many of the overall contenders.
“Steven is really disappointed, but we have to move on,” said directeur sportif Jan Boven. "We will continue to fight for the overall. We’ll see how far we’ll get. We know that Steven is always one of the better riders in the final week. It’s our challenge to finish in the top ten.”
Rolland nostalgic for the Giro d’Italia
French riders do not often show their appreciation for the Giro d’Italia but Pierre Rolland took to Twitter to praise the racing after stage four. The Europcar rider finished fourth overall in the 2014 Giro d’Italia and seems to be missing not being at the 2015 Corsa Rosa.
He Tweeted: “Quand je vois des étapes comme hier, je me dis que le@giroditalia est la plus belle des courses. Par contre dur à regarder#cadonnetropenvie”
“When I see stages like yesterday, I think that the @giroditalia is the most beautiful race of all. In contrast it is the hardest to watch #itmakesyouenvious
