The injured world scratch race champion Martyn Irvine has been given a vote of confidence by his UnitedHealthcare team, which has said that it believes he will make a complete recovery from the hip fracture he suffered earlier today.
The Irishman crashed approximately fifty kilometres into today’s fourth stage of the Tour of Taiwan, falling heavily and being forced out of the race.
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team General Manager and Team Director, Mike Tamayo said that he spoke to Irvine today and that he found him to be in good spirits. “A rider like Martyn is unquestionably one of the strongest and toughest guys we know,” he said. “He will be back stronger than ever. Obviously, our primary concern right now is getting him home to Ireland, making him as comfortable as possible and working with him through the recovery process.”
According to Cycling Ireland’s head coach Brian Nugent, the team moved quickly after Irvine’s crash to ensure that he had the best medical care possible. He was operated upon in order to stabilise the fracture. Tamayo gave more details, although he said that the full picture has not yet been communicated to the US.
“Martyn went into surgery at about 6:30pm local time in Taiwan. We understand his surgery lasted about an hour and that everything went well,” he said. “The doctors are helping him deal with the pain right now.
“Initial reports indicated Martyn suffered a fractured hip but our team doctor, Dr. Michael Roshon - who is based in the United States - is currently awaiting the results of the X-rays and reports from the doctors in Taiwan so we can define exactly what Martyn’s injury is.”
“We believe it was a break to the femoral head, but again, we haven’t seen the X-rays and will update everyone as soon as we have more detail."
Irvine was given a one year contract with the team prior to 2013. Although he has raced only a few days in its colours thus far, he became its first-ever world champion on February 21st when he won the world scratch race championships in Belarus.
He took the title less than an hour after taking silver in the individual pursuit. The gold medal was the first track victory by an Irishman in over 100 years, a considerable achievement for a country with no indoor velodrome.
Also see: Video – World scratch race champion Martyn Irvine greeted by supporters at Dublin airport