Mark Cavendish suffered a broken rib as he crashed in the opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, Team Dimension Data have confirmed.

The 32-year-old crossed the line sporting clear facial injuries on the first day in Italy, failing to make the time limit after an earlier crash, meaning he is ineligible to continue the race.

And Cavendish was then taken to hospital, where an X-ray revealed a rib fracture - although team doctor Jarrad van Zuydam is confident of a straightforward recovery.

"He came down pretty hard at around 55km per hour and he sustained multiple abrasions and soft tissue injuries to his knees, hips, hands and some swelling on his face as well," Van Zuydam said.

"But he had a lot of rib pain which we went to X-ray and found that he has a fracture of the seventh rib on the right side. The fracture's nice and stable and should heal well."

This injury deals another blow to Cavendish after he was forced to withdraw from the Abu Dhabi Tour, also following an opening-stage crash.

He added: "It's frustrating to have crashed, particularly in light of the concussion that I sustained in Abu Dhabi, but I'm just pleased that there's no major damage done.

"Despite the pain from my injury, I was really looking forward to a fast second stage and naturally I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be a part of it."