The crashes took a considerable toll on stage 2 of Paris-Nice on Monday, with medical updates from the teams revealing that Australian national champion Luke Durbridge (Jayco AlUla), Florian Sénéchal (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Gorka Sorarrain (Caja Rural-RGA) had all walked away from the stage with collarbone fractures.
Sénéchal was caught up in a mass fall at around 45km to go. His teammate Arnaud Démare, who came second in stage 1, was also involved but able to return to contest the sprint. Still the loss of Sénéchal took a toll, with Démare finishing seventh on stage 2.
"It was a big blow to lose Florian Sénéchal in a fall, who is an important element for Arnaud Démare," said Arkéa-B&B Hotels sports director Laurent Pichon in a team media release. "He is his last lead-out and his withdrawal upset our plans."
The crash occurred on straight section of road but was just after the peloton had swept through a right hand bend. It was around a third of the way down the bunch and saw about a dozen riders crash, with others managing to stay upright by taking to the grass on the road side.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels later added in a medical update on social media that: "Taken to Montargis hospital, he [Sénéchal] underwent tests which revealed a fracture of the external edge of his right clavicle.
"The duration of his unavailability will be communicated later."
Durbridge was also caught up in the same crash, but while he came off his bike he had some time to slow and managed to keep himself largely upright in the pile up of riders, then was quickly on his way again to rejoin the bunch.
However, in the next crash the Australian road champion was not so lucky.
"Following a crash in the final 20km of today's Paris-Nice stage 2, Luke Durbridge had to abandon the race," said Jayco AlUla on social media.
"He was taken to hospital where examinations confirmed that he has broken his collarbone. He will now go home to rest and recover."
The crash occurred nearer to the back of the bunch this time as the pace picked up during the run to the intermediate sprint. As the rest of the peloton who were held up by the fall cleared Durbridge and also Sorarrain could be seen propping themselves against the barriers, both evidently in pain and nursing shoulders. Caja Rural-RGA confirmed in a medical update that Sorarrain had also fractured his clavicle in the fall.
