VeloBalls

Bike reviews and cycling news that BITES

Injury

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Cancellara Promises to Return to Compete after Back Injury

Swiss bicycle racer Fabian Cancellara has made a promise to return to competing after he crashed at the E3 Harelbeke.

Cancellara, a member of Trek Factory Racing, crashed last Friday during the early part of the race which was held in Belgium. He was brought to a local hospital where it was discovered that two minor fractures in his lower vertebrae resulted from the fall.

The 34-year-old was instructed his injuries would take weeks to recover, taking him out of the Classics season.

A day after the fall, Cancellara discussed the incident with a press corp, as well as his plans for the near future. The multiple world time-trial champion and one-day specialist was evidently experiencing pain and refused to specify a comeback date.

“It could be worse and I could be still in hospital or having an operation. Or worse case scenario it could have ended my career and I have to take the positives out of this. I have to see the positives,” the professional racer said.

This isn’t the first time Cancellara has fallen and lost his dream of winning the Classics. Back in 2012, a crash that lead to an injured collarbone took him out of the Tour of Flanders. At the London Olympic road race, he fell as well but was able to recover from both setbacks with an excellent performance the following year.

In 2013, the Swiss-Italian won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Last year Cancellara won the Tour of Flanders once more.

Gathering from his past unfortunate experiences, the racer said, “In 2012 the world really came down around me. Yesterday wasn’t easy but today is strange. It’s a strange feeling because I go home now. There’s no fix and I just have to wait a few weeks to heal. There’s not much I can do.”

“This is different but mentally maybe I’m more ready. I won’t give up because of a crash. We live with crashes and we can’t avoid that,” he added.

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Cav rejoins The Tour de France

Showing what can only be described as a remarkable amount of bounce-back following the operation on his shoulder less than two weeks ago Mark Cavendish made his way to France to support his Omega Pharma Quickstep team mates.

During an impromptu interview with Ned Boulting during the ITV4 coverage of The Tour de France Cav was keen to show Ned the scar on his shoulder, in fact he kind of insisted on it!  And very well-healed it looked too.  Cav then proceeded to show how flexible his newly bolted together shoulder was, and with all the enthusiasm of a kid showing off a new injury in the school playground he gleefully informed Ned Boulting that he could ‘feel where the screws are’.

When asked when he would be fit to ride again Mark Cavendish said that he was already gently back in training, but wouldn’t be risking a career-ending injury by entering a race for a while yet.  Yesterday Cav was spotted riding in the Omega Pharma Quickstep team car, as to what duties he had been assigned to earn his place in the car we can only speculate?  Expert power-sprinter and keeper of the team sarnies?   We’d like to think so.

Get well soon Cav!

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Schleck’s slide continues; may have slid off Trek team for Le Tour

Heading in to this season, many expected to finally see Andy Schleck return to the form that won him the Tour de France in 2010. So far, though, those high expectations have not been met. Schleck so far has failed to finish the Amstel Gold Race and the Ardennes Classics, and missed out entirely on the Tour of Romandie due to a knee injury.

It seems now that Schleck may be running out of chances to prove he is still the athlete who once dazzled spectators as he battled his way up the Col du Tourmalet. In an interview with Velochrono, Trek Team Racing manager Luca Guercilena indicated that Schleck would still need to earn a spot on Trek’s Tour de France squad by performing well in the ongoing Tour de Suisse.

Guercilena says that “[Schleck] still has the Tour of Switzerland where he can show he is competitive. That’s a real test.”

If Guercilena is serious about Schleck needing to prove his worth before France, the manager will certainly be looking for strong results from Schleck in the last two stages of Switzerland. These two long stages feature summit finishes which will show if Schleck still has what it takes to compete in the mountains.

So far, though, Andy’s performance has been less than convincing. He hasn’t seen the top ten of any stage so far. With Andy’s struggles and Frank’s concussion suffered just days ago during a dangerously foggy and wet descent in Switzerland, it appears that this might become the first Tour de France since 2006 to feature neither of the Luxembourgian brothers.