Back number 111 has become something of a curse for Alejandro Valverde in the Volta a Catalunya. For the second year in a row, the Movistar Team leader was forced to abandon with that bib in the Spanish event.

While last year's race saw him leaving the race after concluding an eventful stage two to Girona, with wounds and dropped, Valverde could not get back on his back today during the fourth day of racing, the Queen stage of the 2013 parcours over 217 km between Llanars and Port Ainé. The race leader fell along with team-mate Eros Capecchi with 100 km remaining on the stage into the descent of a non-categorized climb.

They both sustained several cuts and bruises that were cured on site by one of the race ambulances, which picked Valverde up and drove him to the Movistar Team's hotel in Rialp where he underwent checks from team doctor Jesús Hoyos. “Neither of them has any serious injuries, but the blow has been hard and Alejandro was feeling a bit dizzy,” the team doctor said in a statement released by the Movistar team. “He has several bruises, especially on his left side, on his hip and knee. And a hard hit in his elbow." In turn, Capecchi was taken to a medical centre in La Seu d'Urgell, where any fractures were ruled out.

Speaking after regaining his composure, Valverde summarised the dramatic events of the day. “Now that my body has warmed down, the thing that hurts me the most is my hip. All my left side has damages, but since I crashed, apart from feeling a bit dizzy, that part was the one that I suffered the most from. We knew that it was a tricky descent, but we were at the front, pushing. Capecchi crashed and I couldn't avoid hitting him. It was a pretty hard impact, even more for him, because I almost fell over him. It seems like I'm not a lucky man when it comes to my Volta appearances. It's true that I was lucky enough to win it in 2009, but last year I also had to retire, and I really thought about it afterwards. I'm furious because I was feeling strong and had chances to win, but the important thing is that we have no injuries, plus our main goals [of the season] are still really far away. Everything was going on track, but this is cycling. At least Nairo showed that he's capable leading the team, and made it to the front again. It's truly sad because we were making a strong duo, both feeling well, and today's was the key stage."