Friday 4 May 2018 12:26, UK
Chris Froome's preparations for the Giro d'Italia suffered a blow when he crashed on a recon ride of the opening time-trial.
Froome went down as he was taking a look at the course in Jerusalem, suffering cuts and nasty areas of road rash on his right-hand side.
The Briton is among the favourites for the year's first Grand Tour, where he will be looking to add the Giro to his wins in the 2017 Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.
Victory would see Froome become the first rider in 35 years to hold all three titles at the same time.
His participation in the race comes with Froome under a cloud of suspicion over an adverse analytical finding he returned for asthma drug salbutamol at the Vuelta.
Froome is contesting the finding and the case continues, leaving him free to continue racing.
Last year's winner Tom Dumoulin told Sky News that he was "frustrated" by the uncertainty surrounding Froome's eligibility.
Froome is one of the last riders scheduled to start Friday's 9.7km time-trial, due to ride down the ramp at 14:41 BST.
There were also crashes involving Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez, who is reported to be fine, and Kanstantin Siutsou, whose Giro is over before it began because of the injuries he sustained.
