Apparently Lotto-Belison’s Jurgen Van den Broeck can’t shake the bad luck off, as the Belgian rider pulled out of the Tirreno-Adriatico with an injury of the same knee he fractured in last year’s Tour the France.

The knee injury sustained in yesterdays crash, in which another Lotto Belisol rider Bart de Clercq was involved, shouldn’t turn out very serious this time around and thus Van den Broeck’s preparations towards the Tour the France are apparently unthreatened.

The 31-year old Belgian managed to get on a bike following an accident and finished the second stage of the Race of the Two Seas, but after a medical check-up it has been decided that he will abandon the Italian event to return home and undergo some more detailed examination on the knee.

Bad news were announced by the Lotto-Belisol sports director Herman Frison, explaining that even though the injury doesn’t seem to be serious, it was too early yesterday to asses the full extent of the damage.

"It's a flesh wound that runs horizontally across the knee and, with the sutures, bending and stretching is impossible,” Frison told Het Nieuwsblad.

"There would be nothing in the first diagnosis concerning internally. But we will have certainty, tomorrow, when the swelling has gone down."

The right knee injured in yesterdays accident is the same one he badly hurt in last year’s Tour the France, as all his GC ambitions were crushed following the diagnosis revealing "a partial crack of the posterior cruciate ligament, a partial crack of the medial ligament, an injury of the cartilage, a bone bruise and a bruise of the patella tendon."

As a result the Belgian rider stayed out of competition until the end of the 2013 season and was able to resume trainings no sooner than in mid-October. However, Van den Broeck has undergone a solid preparation period during last winter-break what was proved by his 24th place in overall standings in Tour de San Luis, his first event in about six months.

The final extend of damage caused by yesterday’s accident is yet to be discovered, but provided the injury is not similarly serious this time around and thus Tour the France preparations of the Lotto-Belisol rider shouldn’t be significantly disrupted.