Team Tinkoff-Saxo will be without their most experienced rider in tomorrow's Milan-Sanremo. Pain in his cervical spine forces Matteo Tosatto out of the Italian classic and the first cobbled races in Belgium and he will be replaced by Nikolay Trusov in La Primavera.

One of Tinkoff-Saxo’s hope for the classics, Matti Breschel is still suffering from the horrific crash in Oman and today, the team announced another huge set-back in terms of being in contention for a win during the cobblestone classics. Their highly experienced and tirelessly supportive Matteo Tosatto is injured and misses Milano-Sanremo tomorrow:
 
Team doctor, Piet de Moer explains:
 
“Matteo has a lot of pain in his cervical spine. This pain goes all the way to his left arm. On an MRI scan, they found pressure from the discs on the nerves, which is the reason for the pain he’s feeling. In other words, Matteo has suffered a herniated disc. He will see a specialist later today to decide the treatment. But I don’t think it’s realistic for him to do any races for at least a week,” says de Moer.
 
Matteo Tosatto has just finished Tirreno-Adriatico where he supported teammate and overall winner, Alberto Contador. Nikolay Trusov will replace Tosatto in tomorrow’s Milano-Sanremo.