The pace heading into the Cipressa and Poggio climbs in Milan-San Remo is always very high and there is always likely to be crashes. Yesteray’s race however claimed an unusually high number of victims, including Paris-Nice winner Geraint Thomas.

“I hit my left side, I went down on a bit of a lip,” Thomas told Cycling Weekly. “I was just out of position a bit, so I was moving up on the right, and the next thing you know, everyone has crashed in front of me. I braked and manage to cut off most of my speed, but there was nowhere to go with a big wall and drain to the side. I hit my hip, but I’m fine really.”

Thomas was therefore unable to execute his part of Team Sky’s race plan, attacking from the bottom of the Poggio while teammate Michal Kwiatkowski went from the top. Nonetheless, Ben Swift still took home second place behind Demare.

“I was going to go a bit earlier maybe [than Kwiatkowski] and try to draw everyone out, and make it hard for the bottom. Obviously to have my chance, but then if I came back, he was going to hit over. Still, it was great to see Swifty get a result because he deserves that,” Thomas said.

Thomas must recover quickly as he is due to ride the Volta a Catalunya in the service of Chris Froome, which start tomorrow.