Bad luck for our team in Sanremo Women.

Bad luck for our team in Sanremo Women.

Three of our riders were taken out of contention in separate incidents.

One of the pre-race favourites of the season’s inaugural Monument, Kim Le Court-Pienaar had to say goodbye to any hopes of replicating last year’s result in Milano-Sanremo, when she concluded in the top five on the Via Roma. The Mauritian Champion was part of the main group that came off the Cipressa, the penultimate climb of the day, but crashed as she tried to avoid another rider who was already down. There was no chance for Kim to come back, after other riders collided into them, effectively ending the race for AG Insurance - Soudal’s leader.

“I don’t know what actually happened. Kasia went down and my first reaction was to not go over her head, while my second one was to not go over the barrier. After that, other riders crashed into us, because it was a blind corner so they couldn’t see us. At that moment I knew my race was over and my first thought was to check if she was okay. Luckily, she reacted as she touched her head, and I hope she’s okay.”

“Of course, it’s disappointing because I was feeling really good on the Cipressa climb and the team had done a great job protecting me the whole day. I was ready for the Poggio, knowing that it would be the crucial point of the race, but it is what it is and we just have to go forward and focus on our next race”, said Kim, who on Sunday will be at the start of the Giro dell’Appennino.

Le Court-Pienaar wasn’t the only rider to experience misfortune Saturday afternoon, as Belgian Champion Justine Ghekiere hit the deck at the Cipressa climb, while Letizia Borghesi was involved in a crash on the final descent. Luckily for the Italian, there were no serious consequences and she quickly got up, joining the first chasing group, from where she sprinted to a top 20 finish. All three riders were examined by our medical team and doing okey. Justine Ghekiere will have further examinations, tomorrow.