Suffering from a rib injury sustained in a crash at the Tour of Turkey, Sacha Modolo hasn't taken the start at today's queen stage of the Tour of Turkey. The Italian will head back to Italy to focus on his recovery.

Sacha Modolo went down in the Arenberg forest when he made his debut at Paris-Roubaix earlier this month and sustained an injury to his rib. He had hoped to be fully recovered for the Tour of Turkey but he ended up doing only two stages of the 8-day race.

Modolo was expected to feature in the sprints but due to his injury he has been riding in support of youngster Niccolo Bonifazio who has done impressively well and is sitting in second overall. With the race's queen stage taking place today, however, the team has chosen not to take any risks and so Modolo will now return home to Italy.

"The effects of the thoracic contusion after the fall at Paris-Roubaix have Modolo forced to adopt a different position on the bike and he does not have a perfect balance when he pushes the pedals," doctor Luca Pollastri said.  "In order to spare his muscuskeletal system in today's very difficult stage, we have decided to take him out of the race.