Injuries continue to plague the men's peloton, with many riders being hurt in a massive pile-up in stage five of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco. One of the crashes occured when a lead motorcycle suddenly slowed, taking down Discovery Channel's Egoi Martinez. On thepaceline.com, Sean Yates confirmed that Sergio Paulinho and Jurgen Van Goolen are both out of the race, but Martinez will continue.
Saunier Duval-Prodir riders Koldo Gil and José Angel Gomez Marchante both went down on a slick descent, with Marchante being the worse off than his team-mate with a deep contusion to the hip. Gil went on to place third in the stage, and Marchante finished the stage, but will need x-rays to be sure there aren't any fractures.
In Northern France, Milram's Volodymyr Dyudya crashed during a training ride as he was taking off some clothing due to the warm weather. The Ukrainian suffered various facial injuries and had to be taken to hospital in Lille, where he received some stitches to his chin, left eye orbit cheek bone, lower lip and fingers of both hands. His team announced Dyudya will probably be able to be released from the hospital on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, his team-mate Marco Velo, who crashed severely in Gent-Wevelgem on Wednesday, is on his way to return to Italy. Petacchi's lead-out man broke not only his right collarbone and two ribs, but tore the ligaments in his right knee as well, and will be operated on in the hospital of Brescia.
Unibet.com's Matt Wilson, who was also a victim of the crash on the Kemmel, has been diagnosed with a broken hand. The Australian has three separate fractures in the hand, sending Wilson to the sidelines for four weeks.
