With the season now over for most of the riders in the peloton, it’s a time when there is a rush by some for medical attention. Not new treatment, as such, but rather some tidying-up after procedures done earlier this season. World road race champion Thor Hushovd will shortly have his collarbone plate removed, and 2009 Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Rinaldo Nocentini is also heading for surgery for a similar reason.
He will have two plates and 13 screws taken out by the same doctor who put them in after his crash in the GP Insubria on February 27th. On that occasion, the Ag2r La Mondiale rider fell on a descent and went over a guardrail, breaking his leg.
The procedure is a quick one, and he will check out of hospital right away and set about building fitness. “No vacation for me,” he said to Tuttobiciweb. “I want to take this opportunity to find my best form. I’ll immediately get back to work as soon as possible. I want to be read to go back on the bike on November 15th, then I’ll have time to return to the team prior to the first training camp.”
Earlier this year, Nocentini told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he had genuine fears for his career. In fact, he believed it might have been over. “It's the first thing I thought, just in those two or three hours from the fall to doctor's visit,” he said. “I saw my leg shattered and my foot twisted, and I had never felt a pain so strong.
“It was the first serious accident of my career and my first serious fracture. I was afraid that the diagnosis was going to be the end of me. I accepted my fate, the verdict, which put my heart in peace. I knew I would never give up, it is not what racers do.”
He returned to racing in the Tour de Suisse then, showing great strength after his injury, finished both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. He also rode the Giro di Lombardia, thus clocking up the sort of racing miles that will stand to him when it comes to returning to top condition.
Nocentini is clearly very determined, and will hope to once again soak up some Tour de France glory next July.