Belgian star still undecided over Worlds participation and may put an end to 2011 season
After crashing out of the Vuelta a España on Sunday’s stage to the Alto de l’Angliru, Tom Boonen (Quick Step) has returned to Belgium, where he has undergone tests at the Herentals Clinic. The fracture of the scaphoid bone of the Belgain’s left hand has been confirmed, and the decision has been taken that surgery is unnecessary.
The former Belgian and World champion was involved in a crash with around 40km to go in the stage, but managed to fight his way to the finish. He was transferred to the hospital in Gijón straight afterwards though, where the fracture was diagnosed.
With the World championships in Copenhagen, Denmark – for which Boonen was building his form in the Vuelta – now less than three weeks away, his participation, and the rest of his season, now look uncertain.
"My hand is still very swollen," Boonen said. "I am in incredible pain whenever I try to make any sort of movement, I can't hold the bike's handlebar and I can't make any type of movement normally either. After a few days of rest I will try to pedal on my hometrainer in order to try and keep up with the training program I've followed so far.
“I will do everything in my power to try and recover from the injury in the speediest possible way, even though it won't be easy considering the World Championship will be taking place so soon. Next week's medical tests will be fundamental to understand whether or not I can keep on racing for the rest of the season."
Should Boonen’s season end here it would be the second year in succession that has been seriously truncated by injury. The Belgian was forced to sit out the summer of 2010 following an operation on a knee injury sustained at the Tour of California, then aggravated at the Tour de Suisse.