Barry breaks elbow at Tour of Qatar

Canada’s Michael Barry of Sky Procycling broke his elbow during a crash at the end of stage four of the International Cycling Union (UCI) 2.1 Tour of Qatar on Wednesday.

“Thanks for the kind messages,” Barry tweeted following the race. “Sadly I broke my elbow. Surgery required. Hopefully back on the bike before too long.”

The 144km stage was held from Al Thakhira to Madinat Al Shamal and included high winds that were likely the result of the accident.

“He was in the line and they were all in the gutter going flat out when someone in front of him hit one of the cat’s eyes on the road and lost his front wheel and went straight down; Michael said he just didn’t have any chance at all to react – they were doing about 70km/h at the time,” said the team’s race coach Rod Ellingworth.

“He’s also quite badly cut and grazed and has taken a lot of skin off his back which is going to be the worst thing as he’s not going to sleep well at all,” he added.

Sky Procycling placed three riders in the top ten during the stage that included Juan Antonio Flecha, Bernhard Eisel and Ian Stannard, who is also leading the event’s Best Young Rider category. The team’s reigning UCI Road World Champion, Mark Cavendish secured a season’s first victory during stage three’s 146.6km race held from Dukhan to Al Gharafa Stadium on Tuesday.

Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma-QuickStep is currently leading the overall classification with two stages remaining.

Canadian Cycling Magazine wishes Barry a speedy recovery.