Stéphane Augé broke his finger during a cyclocross race in Lurbe-St Christau, France. The injury will cause the Cofidis rider to miss a couple of weeks of training.
Augé broke his little finger in the crash when he transitioned from a grassy section of the parcours to the asphalt, his blog announced. He will have to go through further examination before he will be cleared to race. His sports managers don't expect too much of a delay to the start of the season for Augé, but he may end up being one week behind schedule.
The most important part for Augé will be to get back into some kind of form before the Cofidis training camp in mid-January.
In the cross race, Augé was doing very well for a roadie. He always stayed close to the front and with a couple of laps to go he made a spectacular move to catch race leader Nicolas Brachet. Then disaster struck and Augé was immediately brought to the hospital of Oloron by the fire department crew that was working the race. Augé reported sharp pain in the left hand and minor injuries to his left leg.
The initial injury was treated by hospital staff, but a specialist from Pau was soon brought in to take over. The specialist's surgery method is less invasive to the body than more conventional treatment.