29 year old climber fully recovered following horrific crash at the Tour de Suisse
2010 has been a year of hardship and misfortunate for Rabobank's Laurens Ten Dam. The season got off to a terrible start in February when the climbing Dutchman crashed his hip at the Ruta del Sol. After recovering from that, he was hit with a major crash at the Tour de Suisse in June, which resulted in a broken wrist, two broken vertebrae, a broken chin, and a concussion. Surprisingly, things got worse for Ten Dam in the days following his crash in the Tour de Suisse - he was involved in a car wreck soon after, which further exacerbated his injuries.
Unsurprisingly, the rider who was supposed to be an indispensable domestique to Menchov and Gesink in the mountains of July's Tour de France, was despondent following his misfortune: "It's awful…I felt great. Racing uphill was even easy. I feel now that the altitude training benefits were really showing themselves. This is a tough blow. This is already the third Grand Tour start in the Netherlands that I will miss."
Fast forward through most of July, and the situation of the 29 year old has improved significantly. Following a slow and steady recovery over the course of the three weeks of the Tour de France, Ten Dam will toe the start line for the first time since his crash at the Tour de Suisse this weekend in the Basque Country's premiere one day race, the Clasica San Sebastian.
It looks like the able domestique will finally get to take his spot alongside his two captains this weekend, as Robert Gesink and Denis Menchov are currently slated to take part in the first major one day classic since Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April.
Following this weekend's arduous romp through the mountains of the Basque Country, Ten Dam's comeback will continue with a focal point on the Vuelta, which begins August 28th in Sevilla.