Team Sky is a man short as Michael Barry breaks his elbow during the Tour of Qatar 2012
Michael Barry of Team Sky broke his elbow during the fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar 2012. The cyclist helped the British team on a number of occasions and had some splendid performances during the first three stages of the race.
Team Sky Race Coach Rod Ellingworth explained that the cyclist is badly injured, as the crash occurred at a very fast speed.
He said, “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," Rod concluded.
The Canadian professional cyclist is a main part of the team and is considered as a top class domestique in the sport.
He finished 44th during the opening stage of the race and helped his teammate Sky Appollonio during the 142.5 kilometre stage of the event.
Team Sky did exceptionally well during the teams time trial stage 2 and finished third, with a deficit of 9 seconds behind Team Garmin-Barracuda.
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step achieved the second position. Barry jumped up to the 19th overall position after the stage 2 classifications.
Although he finished way behind at the 93rd position during the third stage, his endless efforts helped the team leader, Mark Cavendish, with the stage victory.
The UCI World Champion achieved his first win of the season and for the team with help of a brilliant sprint to restrict Tom Boonen at the second spot.
Team Sky Procycling moved to the second overall position at the team’s classifications after the third stage.
Michael started the 144 kilometre stage 4 but unfortunately ended up in a disastrous crash, which badly injured him and the cyclist had to abandon the race.
He communicated with his fans through the twitter page. "Thanks for the kind messages. Sadly I broke my elbow. Surgery required. Hopefully back on the bike before too long," he tweeted.
Team Sky is currently at the second position after the stage 4 classifications, with a deficit of 34 seconds behind Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step.
With two more stages to go, David Brailsford’s team will certainly miss the services of their star cyclist and only time will tell if the team can still make it through to the top during the final day.
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