Caja Rural's veteran to miss out on Tour de France debut after a crash in Slovenia

Team Caja Rural - Seguros RGA will be racing its first ever Tour de France this summer (while their title sponsor returns to Grande Boucle after near four decades), however they'll have to make do without their most experienced rider and one of leaders - Eduard Prades. The Catalan was involved in a crash during stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia, where a heavy pile-up abruptly ended his ambitions in the race.

Team Caja Rural - Seguros RGA sadly confirmed the expected news: Prades has suffered a tibia fracture and will be flown back to Spain in the coming days to begin a recovery process, which will be preceded by a period of rest.

The crash created a scenario that forced organisers to neutralise the stage with 25 kilometres remaining. The decision came after race doctors were fully deployed away from the bunch, attending multiple riders involved in the incident. Among them was the Spaniard, who was forced to abandon and was evacuated by ambulance.

This severe setback is a major blow for Caja Rural's Tour de France ambitions. Prades has been delivering a solid season which saw him finish top-5 at Brabantse Pijl. He is yet to win this year, but the 38-year-old was going to be Caja's main ambition to secure a result in one of the more versatile sprint stages.

The most painful sporting consequence is the end of his hopes of riding the Tour de France, the sport’s marquee race in which he is yet to debut at 38, and which he was carefully targeting after Caja Rural’s invitation to this edition.

As his team officially communicated this morning to reassure fans, "the Catalan rider will be transferred back to Spain in the coming days to begin his recovery", they stated in a press release from the Navarre-based outfit.