Serge Pauwels’ 2011 season continues with adversity as he’s now to miss the Vuelta a España. The Belgian Sky Procycling rider crashed in the Tour de Wallonie this week and hurt his triceps.
“An MRI scan has not yielded good news,” Pauwels told Het Laatste Nieuws. “A fall in the Tour of Wallonie has torn my triceps. I’m back for surgery [yesterday]. I will be out for six weeks”
This follows his non-selection for the Giro d’Italia by Team Sky and missing the Tour de France due to an elbow fracture he sustained in the Ster ZLM Tour in June.
Pauwels signed for Team Sky last year after a successful 2009 on the Cervelo Test Team. He is well known for a controversial incident in the 2009 Giro d’Italia where he was in a two man breakaway with the chance of a stage victory but was called back to the peloton to help work for team leader Carlos Sastre. He went on to finish in 32nd position overall while riding in support of the Spaniard.
The 27 year old’s contract ends at the end of the season with the British team ; it seems to be a nervous time for the man from Lier, who came onto the team with a lot of expectation. He rode the Tour de France last year in support of Bradley Wiggins but never had anything significant to show for himself.
Pauwels publicly displayed his dissatisfaction earlier this year when he was left out of the Giro, a race he built his season around.