Caisse d’Epargne rider Pablo Lastras was one of the many riders to hit the pavement during the Giro d’Italia stage 3 between Amsterdam and Middelburg on Monday. The Spaniard took a blow to his lower back and sacrum, the pelvic bone at the base of the spine. Despite being in a lot of pain, Lastras rode yesterday’s team time trial, but was not able to stay with his team for much of the course.
“I knew I couldn’t stay with the team for the whole way,” said Lastras in esciclismo.com. “I managed to stay with them until kilometre 13 and had to ride alone for the last 20.”
As his injuries are to his lower back Lastras’ discomfort varies depending on the position he takes on the bike. “When I was sitting down I could more or less stand the pain,” he explained, “but when I stood up on the pedals it was unbearable.
“I really had to haul ass to avoid the time cut,” he added. “In the end I came in nine minutes down [on stage winners Liquigas-Doimo], and the team had already lost 2 minutes 20 seconds [21 actually – Ed], but I suffered incredibly.”
Despite the pain from his stage 3 crash Lastras has no intention of giving up the Giro, feeling that he can use the coming stages to recover. Once recovered he also hopes that the time he lost in yesterday’s team time trial will mean that he may be allowed more freedom in breaks as he will be no threat to anybody’s overall position.
“I had a good rest day yesterday [Tuesday],” he said, “and I hope that in two or three days the pain will be better and I can re-enter the race. The Giro is long and I don’t’ care about the lost time, in fact it could even benefit me when I get in a breakaway.
“Let’s see how it evolves in the coming days,” he concluded.