Despite the splendid disposition confirmed during his participation in the Paris-Nice, José Joaquín Rojas was forced to pull out of Milano-Sanremo before the season’s first monument kicked off in earnest, following the crash in the neutral zone. A fracture of elbow was suspected as a consequence of the accident and bad news were confirmed by the Movistar sprinter via his twitter account yesterday.

The 28-year old Spaniard suspected the fracture right after the accident had happened on slippery roads in the neutral zone. However, he still did hoped for a positive outcome of the medical check-up, aiming to keep up the momentum carried out from the Paris-Nice in the coming races.

“I think I have something broken, maybe slightly cracked… I am chased by a bad luck, I hope it is possibly the least serious and I’ll hit the road as soon as possible,” Rojas told Biciciclismo right after the accident.

Rojas has returned to Spain just after the unfortunate accident and further medical examination confirmed a fracture of the radial head of his left elbow, the second in two months after the Movistar rider broke the scaphoid in the fist stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.

“A fracture of the [elbow’s] radial head, what does not kill you makes you stronger,” Rojas optimistically wrote on his twitter account.

After the first accident which occurred in the season’s beginning in Australia, the Spanish sprinter returned to competition in the Volta ao Algarve followed by Almeria and Murcia where he has been right in the mix on both occasions as he finished fourth and fifth. He rode brilliantly in the Paris-Nice and narrowly missed out on the podium spot in overall classification, oversprinted by the FDJ sprinter Arthur Vichot in the event’s ultimate stage.

Paris-Nice was intended to serve Rojas as a perfect build-up for the Milano-Sanremo and other upcoming races in Spaniard’s busy schedule for the first part of 2014 season, including E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wavelgem and Vuelta al Pais Vasco before heading to Ardennes classics. It remains questionable, however, whether Rojas would be able to participate in any of those races.