Two days after his crash in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Fabian Cancellara has spoken at length about the accident and said that while the disappointment was hard to take, he must simply accept the situation and move on.
The RadioShack Nissan rider was aiming to take his second victory in the Flandrian Classic, but crashed out in the feedzone and suffered a quadruple fracture to his collarbone.
He was operated on Sunday evening and is now recovering physically from the injury and mentally from the disappointment. He spoke to the media today in the Crossklinik in Basel, Switzerland about his fall and its consequences, explaining how he is taking the setback.
“If you are successful in professional sports, low blows are also part of it,” he said. “But I admit, it is very difficult for me to take this. I was in the best shape at the Tour of Flanders. You have to look at it in a positive way, though: the crash could have ended even worse.”
“A crash is part of cycling, and in a way it's also part of life.”
What will help his return is the different treatment that he received. The technique used by surgeons are intended to ensure that he will have the best possible recovery. RadioShack Nissan doctor Andreas Gösele gave the details about what was done.
"My colleague, doctor Farkas, used a clavicle pin to put the bone together. It's a procedure where we insert a pin in the clavicle itself, instead of using a plate and a lot of screws to keep the bone together,” he explained. “This procedure is a lot more natural and doesn't affect the strength of the bone once the device is removed.
“The pin will be removed once the fracture is completely healed, at the very earliest in six weeks time. But this is really a small routine operation."
Cancellara is pleased by how the surgery went, saying that it made him confident about getting back to the sport. “It will take time, though, so I must handle that setback,” he said. “As a professional athlete, I just have to deal with it.
“It’s difficult to say [how long he’ll be out]. I won’t put pressure on myself. Physiologically, I am already able to train again.”
However he has decided to take some time in order to get over the discomfort he is experiencing. "I’m still in pain. I'm going to rest a couple of days, maybe even a week, and then resume training,” he said. “I had two major goals this season: the Classics and the Olympics. The spring campaign is unfortunately over for me now. Because I had planned a break after the Classics anyway, my build-up towards London will not change. The plan is that I return to competition in May, possibly the Bayern Rundfahrt, as I did last year."
The Swiss rider will miss Paris-Roubaix, of course, losing out on the chance to target what would have been a third win. He believes the RadioShack Nissan team can nevertheless ride well on Sunday, and should be ready for a big battle.
He’ll be away from the peloton for several weeks, but knows that he has the support of his team and the well wishes of many of his fellow professionals. “I have received many SMS messages,” he said, “and Tom Boonen has also contacted me. He wished me a speedy recovery and wrote that I will come back again soon and will fly over the roads. And that I should enjoy this time with my family.”
Fatherhood beckons again:
When Cancellara fell, he lay on the ground for some time. It was immediately obvious that his race was over, but his prone shape made many worry about his condition, and also led to rumours that his pelvis was fractured.
He was loaded into the ambulance after several minutes and then taken away. Aware that his wife was watching the race on the television, he tried to call her from the moving vehicle but the phone was constantly engaged.
The moment was clearly a shock to her and, as he revealed, he’d additional reason to be worried about her reaction. “My wife Stefanie is pregnant again,” he said. “We are expecting our second child. Now I’ll just enjoy spending time with my family, we have a lot of fortune. That gives me strength.
“I'm even more motivated to train hard and aim high for the Olympics."