Building into the season nicely after a solid opening race in Portugal, Max Poole took to the start line at Strade Bianche to test his legs ahead of Tirreno-Adriatico, where he would spearhead the team’s GC ambitions.
It was a hectic and crash-filled edition over the white roads and Max unfortunately was involved in one of the many crashes throughout the day. Max underwent multiple checks including an x-ray, which sadly revealed a broken collarbone.
Team Picnic PostNL doctor Camiel Aldershof said: “Unfortunately the x-ray revealed that Max has suffered a collarbone break in his fall this afternoon. We will do some further checks in the next days, but he will most likely undergo surgery, which will then be followed by him taking the time needed to rest, recover, and to fully heal, before we take any next steps. Obviously, this is a big disappointment for Max but we are confident we can get him back up and in action after a good recovery period.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It’s a real shame for Max. He was building his form nicely and we were excited to see what we could do in terms of the GC fight at Tirreno – Adriatico next week. Max is a fighter though and last year we saw him come back from injury really strongly so with the right time to recover we believe he can do just that again. For Tirreno – Adriatico we will reassess our plans but will continue to fight and look for stage win opportunities when we can, whether that be in the sprints with Casper, or in the breaks and attacks with our climbers.”
