Two riders suffer broken legs at Tour of Slovenia

Two riders have suffered broken legs in the mass crash that saw the second stage of the Tour of Slovenia neutralised for 30 minutes on Thursday.

Several riders went down in a major crash 27km from the end of the stage to Ormož on a sweeping downhill bend. Among them were Spanish racer Eduard Prades of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and Briton Lucas Towers of Modern Adventure, both of whom have broken their legs in the fall.

The 181.8km stage was halted following the crash, which involved Prades, Towers, and several others, as the race lacked ambulances to continue to the finish.

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Caja Rural announced that Prades has suffered a right tibia fracture in the fall. The 38-year-old, who finished fifth at Brabantse Pijl this year, will now miss out on the team’s selection for the Tour de France next month.

“Confirmed: right tibia fracture for Eduard Prades as a result of his fall yesterday in the Tour of Slovenia,” Caja Rural announced on social media.

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“The Catalan will be transferred to Spain to undergo surgery soon. Get well soon and recover fully, Edu!”

Towers, racing this year as a neo-pro having previously been in the Caja Rural youth setup, suffered a lower-leg fracture in the crash.

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“Following the crash on stage two of the Tour of Slovenia, Lucas Towers was taken to the University Medical Center in Maribor where examinations confirmed that he has an isolated lower-leg fracture,” Modern Adventure announced.

“He will undergo surgery and remain in the hospital for observation for the next few days.

“After that, he’ll head back to the UK for recovery and rehab under the guidance of our medical team. The whole Modern Adventure Pro Cycling family wishes Lucas a speedy recovery.”

Once racing got underway again following the neutralisation, Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali sprinter Dušan Rajović sped to stage 2 victory as Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) defended his race lead.

The Tour of Slovenia continues on Friday with a 133.5km stage from Maribor to Celje.