Although he crashed yesterday and broke his collarbone, Rapha Condor Sharp rider Dean Downing is not expected to suffer a delayed start to his racing season. As he explained in a recent video interview with this site, he was due to begin racing in the Tour de Taiwan in March; fortunately it is expected that he will still be in racing shape by that time.
“The crash happened on his legendary local chain gang ride that takes place every Saturday afternoon,” team manager John Herety told VeloNation today. “Ben Swift and brother Russ were there as well. They have a final sprint at the end. His Di2 gears jumped, and threw him of his bike. Some others came down in crash, but were not as seriously hurt.”
Downing had some time waiting, but fortunately a house was nearby. “After the crash, I was carried over the road to a local family residence where I waited for an ambulance,” he explained. “When it came, Ben Swift went with me to the hospital. Then after a couple of hours waiting with my wife and my brother Russ, X rays revealed a broken collarbone.”
The bone is understood to have snapped clean through, and so it will need to be pinned in order to heal properly. Herety explained that the procedure will happen relatively quickly. “We have medical care provided by Claremont Hospital, and he'll be operated on next Friday,” he said. “He’ll have one week’s rest, two to three weeks on a turbo, then back on road. He should be ok for the Singapore Crit [March 2-4 – ed.] and Taiwan [March 10-15], subject to us getting a start in the latter.”
Dowing is the brother of Sky Procycling’s Russell Downing, who will compete with Endura Racing next year. The 36 year old won a stage of the Tour de Taiwan in 2010 and last year clocked up victory on the opening stage of the An Post Rás. He was psyched to be in good shape for the upcoming season and while the crash is a setback, it’s happened far enough away from the start of the season to reduce its effects.
He said that he’s doing well thus far, and isn’t too discouraged. “I slept well last night, but maybe that was the pain killers,” he told VeloNation. “Morale is good, it's nice to get a lot of support from social media, on twitter and Facebook. But more so, it's nice to get a few phone calls from family and close friends.
“I've just had a visit from my best mate to talk me through the crash…he even managed to make fun of me and make me laugh.”