Ian Stannard will miss the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix following his crash at Gent-Wevelgem.
 

Stannard was forced into a painful exit from Sunday’s incident-filled event, fracturing a vertebra after leaving the road and falling into a deep ditch as the race approached the second loop of cobbled climbs.

The 26 year old had kicked off the 2014 Classics campaign in the best-possible style with a victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad but will now be unable to ride in the spring’s two biggest Monuments.

With Stannard set to fly back to the UK on Monday evening, Team Sky Doctor Phil Riley confirmed: “Ian has a fracture in one of his vertebrae as a result of his fall. The fracture is stable and he will undergo a review with a UK-based neurosurgeon this week, as well as having an MR scan. That should allow us to find out more information following his CT scan.”

After a painful evening, a disappointed Stannard talked about the unlucky crash, and his disappointment not to be competing in his two favourite races.

“I won’t know how long I’m out for until we speak to the specialist, but it’s not going to be in time for the Flanders or Roubaix,” he told TeamSky.com. “You can’t rush and injury like this and I’ve just got to rest up now. Once I’ve spoken to the specialist I’ll have a better idea of what I can and can’t do, and then I’ll be able to focus on my recovery.

“I’m gutted not to be riding in those races and it’s going to be really hard to watch them on TV. To be honest, I haven’t had time to really think about it yet because it’s been pretty painful 24 hours.

“They are only bike races at the end of the day - and there’ll be plenty more chances to ride them in the future.”

The Essex rider also described how the crash occurred with the pace high as the peloton jostled for position in the lead-up to the Baneberg climb.

“Someone came across the road in front of me from the right and their rear derailleur got caught in my spokes. I thought I’d got control of it but then they looked around to see who they’d hit and that flicked my bike again and I went straight into the ditch.

“That was the first time I’ve ever had to stay in hospital overnight, and hopefully the last time as well.”