The bad luck doesn't seem to stop pouring on EF Education-EasyPost from all directions in 2026. The American team could count riders who have escaped serious problems on the fingers of one hand. Unfortunately, Lukas Nerurkar was caught by this "curse" when he was hit by a car during training, which left him with multiple injuries.
While on a training ride near his family home in England on July 2, a driver hit Lukas Nerurkar, causing several injuries including a broken collarbone that was also dislocated, a fractured sternum, a fractured vertebra, a broken rib, and a small puncture in one lung.
The British rider was released home after two nights, but returned to the hospital for a scheduled surgery to treat his collarbone fracture on July 8. The team informs that the surgery was successful.
"Because it's the distal part of the collarbone, so the part closest to the shoulder, and there's quite a few ligaments around there which have been damaged, they've had to do some work as well," Nerurkar explained the need for extra procedure in a team press communication.
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"It's not just been putting a plate in. So I think that's going to take a little bit longer than usual and the fact that it’s a broken sternum and the broken rib too, so waiting for them to heal. With a straightforward collarbone fracture, it's a matter of weeks, but then this time I might have to wait a little bit longer. We're hopeful that it's going to be no more than a couple weeks before I can get back out on the turbo."
The EF team doctor estimates that Nerurkar will take about six to eight weeks to recover with a rest period of two weeks since the collarbone surgery. Fortunately for the 22-year-old, the rest of his injuries should heal on its own.
Forced time-out
Nerurkar has been having a good season up until this point. While he's yet to secure his maiden professional victory, he's been a consistent feature in smaller hilly races such as GP Gippingen (8th), Faun Drome Classic (9th), or Brabantse Pijl (16th).
For the second half of this season, Nerurkar hoped to take his results one step further at stage races such as Tour of Austria or Tour de Pologne. But the full recovery now takes priority with return scheduled most likely towards the end of September or October.
And that he can already think about comeback is what Nerurkar sees a positive in this short-coming:
"The immediate thing is, obviously, I’m happy it wasn't worse, and also it’s just generally scary that a car can do that to you so easily. And then the second part is the longer term of missing out on the racing which I was really looking forward to doing. Races like Austria and Poland and just using up a nice bit of summer form, which obviously won't be happening now," he said.
"You never want to crash, but I've got them to look after me for these early weeks, which is pretty important and to just help me do the basics," he said.
"I’m able to get around the house. It's probably just for today, tomorrow, and maybe the next day it’s going to be more that pain is a limiting factor in terms of moving around. I can go on little walks and stuff, which is nice. I've taken my dog out on a little walk with my parents. I can't do much more than, you know, 10, 15 minutes, but it's nice to get some fresh air," Nerurkar concludes.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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