Slovenian fast man Luka Mezgec has unfortunately been forced to retire from the 99th Giro d’Italia after scans revealed a broken scaphoid in his right wrist that the rider suffered in a crash on stage eleven.

Mezgec had been riding strongly for ORICA-GreenEDGE in support of second placeEsteban Chaves and sprinter Caleb Ewan. The early stages of the race had seen Mezgec and Ewan continue their development together in the sprints culminating in a second place finish for Ewan on stage twelve after a great lead out from Mezgec.

Sport director Matt White praised the good work of Mezgec over the course of the race.

“We had some initial scans which showed nothing, but with scaphoids it can take a couple of days to develop,” said White. “We got him rechecked today because he has been riding with a lot of pain for the last five days and it’s been confirmed that he has fractured his right scaphoid.

“The best thing for the team and the best thing for Luka (Mezgec) is that he go home and gets operated on quickly and then comes back as soon as possible, there’s no need to take any risks here at the Giro d’Italia.”

Mezgec has previously won a stage at the 2014 Giro d’Italia and his speed and experience are proving to be vital in the leading out of 21-year old Ewan.

“It just goes to show how much of a hard man he is to ride the last five stages with pain and still deliver Caleb (Ewan) perfectly for a sprint to second on stage twelve with a broken wrist.”

“You’ve got to admire Luka’s spirit and work ethic,” continued White. “Myself and everyone at ORICA-GreenEDGE wish him a speedy recovery and a swift return to the team.”