Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) will be forced to take three days of absolute rest following his crash in Paris-Roubaix, his team has announced. The Italian, who finished second in the 2009 edition of the Queen of the Classics - the previous time Tom Boonen won - was unable to follow the Belgian’s winning move on Sunday, as he escaped with teammate Niki Terpstra. After drifting back to the chasing group Pozzato came down in a crash with former Belgian champion Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM).
Pozzato eventually abandoned the race, which was more attributed to frustration than injury at the time, a visit to Doctor Daniele Tarsi, the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia team doctor, however, has shown that the Italian is more badly damaged than first thought. An ultrasound scan on the rider’s right knee has revealed a serious haematoma, and Doctor Tarsi has prescribed three days of complete rest to allow it to heal properly.
Having rested, Pozzato should be able to resume training, and prepare for his next targets of the season, but he will first undergo further examinations to decide whether any further treatment is necessary.
Pozzato’s season has, in many ways, been defined by crashes and injuries. The 30-year-old fractured his right collarbone in a crash in the fifth stage of the Tour of Qatar on February ninth. He underwent an operation to plate the fractured bone - as well as remove a plate from his left one from an earlier injury - on February 12th, and resumed training three days later.
On February 18th, just nine days after sustaining the break, the former Italian champion returned to racing in the Trofeo Laigueglia; early results were unspectacular, but the decision appeared to have been a good one, as he took sixth in Milano-Sanremo on March 21st. Sixth in Dwars door Vlaanderen was followed by ninth in Gent-Wevelgem, then second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, his biggest result in almost two years.
Things were looking optimistic for Pozzato to possibly repeat his Roubaix second place of 2009, until he hit the cobbles in the race’s closing stages, and the resultant injury forced him to abandon.