Veteran Frenchman Sandy Casar (FDJ) had hoped to finish all three grand tours this year but his dream only lasted three days of racing in the big three week races. A crash in yesterday's third Giro stage left him with a broken scaphoid and the FDJ rider did not start today.

For many years Sandy Casar had joked about the idea of finishing all three grand tours in just one season but as time went by he started to take his own joke seriously. This year he wanted to turn his ideas into reality and set out with the firm objective of doing the triple.

After three days of racing in the Giro his dream is already over. A crash in yesterday's very tricky stage left him with a broken scaphoid. He managed to finish the stage in the last big group with a time loss of 14.17 to stage winner Luca Paolini but later examinations confirmed the fracture and the veteran Frenchman will now be in plaster for three weeks.

This year's Giro was Casar's 18th grand tour and he has managed to take a stage win twice. Both victories came in his home race, the Tour de France, but until now he has been unsuccessful in all of his five Giris and two Vueltas. He came close last year when he was 2nd behind Lars Bak to Sestri Levante and he had hoped to make up for the disappointment in this year's race.

He may still be able to start and finish the Tour and Vuelta but his dream of making the treble is over for now.

Starting at 14.15 you can follow today's fourth stage of the Giro on CyclingQuotes.com/live.