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news
Fabian Cancellara in yellow, Tour de France 2015 Stage 2 (picture courtesy Trek Factory Racing)Fabian Cancellara out of Tour de France after breaking vertebrae for second time this year
Fabian Cancellara may have ridden his last ever stage of the Tour de France after suffering a near repeat of the injury that ruled him out of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix earlier this year.
Back in March, the Trek Factory Racing rider sustained fractures to the left side of his L2 and L3 vertebrae in a crash during the E3 Harelbeke, bringing his Classics campaign to a premature end.
Yesterday’s pile-up during Stage 3 of the Tour de France from Antwerp to Mur de Huy resulted in Cancellara, in the yellow jersey of race leader, fracturing the right side of his L3 and L4 vertebrae.
Cancellara completed the stage albeit in obvious discomfort, and during the 20 minutes or so that it was neutralised following the crash it did appear at times that he might abandon.
Both crashes happened on Belgian roads and according to the Trek Factory Racing website again it was a CT scan that confirmed the worst for both the rider, who had already said this might be his final participation in the race, and his team.
He said: “This is incredibly disappointing for me. The team was on a high with the yellow jersey and were very motivated to defend it.
“We have had a lot of crashes and injuries since the start of the season, and we finally had a great 24 hours but now it’s back to bad luck. One day you win, one day you lose.”
He added:“It was very hard to come back in shape after my crash in Harelbeke and getting the confidence.
“The yellow jersey gave me a huge boost for the cobblestone stage tomorrow. I guess I have to keep the positive and look forward to the second part of the season.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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9 comments
Legend.
Such a shame, especially after the recovery he's just been through. Does anyone know is there any punishment for a rider who causes these pile ups? I know sometimes its a "racing incident" but clearly William Bonnet was at fault for this one - type of thing you might see in a Cat 4 race, just drifting across and clipping a rear wheel. When you think of the money invested in getting these riders to their physical peak at just the right time, I bet Trek and Orica among others are fuming. Orica lost 2 riders yesterday, Gerrans and Impey I think. Gerrans, like Cancellara, has had a fair bit of time at the X-ray machine this year.
Do many Cat 4 races have 198 racers in and ride at that speed? Any idea of the conditions at the time, road surface, wind? No doubt people are fuming it's only natural. No need to appoint blame unless there is something very obviously wrong with someone's actions. From my sofa you could see who was first man down but I can't say I can clearly state he did anything that would require sanction.
Bonnet broke his neck. I don't think he needs any more punishment.
None of the riders go out to cause a grand chute.
It didn't look good seeing him fly off into that ditch on the yellow bike. He's down to do the Rio 2016 Olympics so we may see another classics season but probably his last Tour - a brave way to finish.
If you're going to bow out of the Tour you may as well ride your last stage in yellow. A huge shame.
Shows how tough these people are. Broken spine? Must finish race...
Such a shame.
I really hope we see him for one more classics campaign next year, but after the bad luck he's has this season I wouldn't be surprised if he called it quits at the end of the year
Heroic ride yesterday.