Lotto-Intermarché have announced via social media that their rider Luca Van Boven has abandoned the Vuelta a España after crashing heavily during stage 7 and managing to complete the day's racing with broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
Van Boven fell heavily in kilometre 122 of the mountainous stage, 28km from the finish line, after Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana) lost his balance after hitting a speed bump in a small town. As a result, the Italian sprinter unintentionally closed out the Belgian, who hit the pavement and crashed.
