Following Gert Steegmans' (Quick Step) abandon in this year's Tour de France and subsequent x-rays in Pau, France revealing a broken scaphoid bone in his left wrist, the sprinter underwent surgery at the Herentals Clinic in his home country of Belgium yesterday.
Before pulling out of the Tour Steegmans attempted to push through the pain, but his bad luck of the previous two seasons resurfaced and got the better of him.
"I'm really bummed," said Steegmans when he announced he would abandon. "I tried to continue, hoping that things would get better with time, that it was just a little swollen.
“In the first few days following the fall the swelling was too intense and an x-ray wouldn't have picked up the fracture,” he explained. "So I decided to continue, this race meant too much to me, I wanted to do well and my legs were great. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to show it."
The Belgian was making his first trip back to the Grande Boucle following two years of missed opportunities at the Katusha and RadioShack teams. Before that, Steegmans had won a stage in each of his two Tour de France participations. His first, the second stage into Gent, Belgium during the 2007 edition of the race, and he followed it up the next year with a brilliant victory in Paris on the Champs-Elysées to cap off the race for his team.
His Quick Step team said he's expected to start training again next week, but his return to racing will depend on the healing process.