Having shown good condition in the Tour de Pologne, Sacha Modolo went into the Eneco Tour with the hope of taking a stage win but the Italian went down hard in the opening stage. Despite taking the start in the second stage, he had to abandon in the early part of the race.

After illness took him out of the Tour de France, Sacha Modolo is hoping to bounce back with a great showing in the second half of the season and he showed solid signs in the recent Tour de Pologne. Unfortunately, he was hit by a major setback when he crashed in the first stage of the Eneco Tour.

Despite having suffered multiple injuries, Modolo decided to take the start in today's second stage but he didn't get far before he threw in the towel. He now hopes to recover for the Vattenfall Cyclassics which takes place in a little less than two weeks.

With Modolo out of the race, Maximilano Richeze took over the role as Lampre-Merida sprinter and he stayed attentive to make the split in the finale. However, he missed the late attacks and so rolled across the line in 15th.

"We're sorry that Sacha had to quit the race, but today's stage did not give him the opportunity to try to recover after yesterday's crash," sports director Orlando Maini said. "We hope his condition won't get worse and maybe even improve in view of the Vattenfall Cyclassics Hamburg.

"It was a very good performance by Richeze, who is giving positive feedbacks after he recovered from the knee injury that he suffered in the Tour de France. It was not easy to be in front in the final kilometers but Maximiliano did it in a very good way".