Mikel Landa was diagnosed with a lumbar fracture following a crash in the closing stages of Clásica San Sebastián.

The Movistar Team rider came down in a pile-up just after the non-categorized Alto de Miracruz climb and prior to the first passage through the finish in the Boulevard, 19 kilometres from the end. A touch of wheels between two riders caused the pile-up which also took down Egan Bernal (Team Sky) and Landa’s Movistar team-mates Víctor de la Parte and Nelson Oliveira.

The Basque climber, always conscious and stable yet unable to move because of huge pain due to a lumbar traumatism, was immobilised with a neck brace by the race’s medical service, then moved by ambulance to the Donostia Hospital.

According to a statement from his team: “extensive examinations undergone by Landa point towards a fracture without displacement of the spinous process in his lumbar vertebra L1. Mikel will be examined again on Sunday to confirm the diagnosis and proceed with his release from hospital. As he returns home, Landa will require two to three weeks of absolute rest to heal the fracture.”

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