Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) was forced out of the Tour de France today after crashing on a wet corner on the opening 14-kilometre time-trial in Düsseldorf. His team have since confirmed that the Spanish rider sustained two fractures in the crash.
Valverde will undergo surgery in Germany tonight after breaking his left kneecap and his team have also said that he fractured his talus, which is part of the ankle joint.
Transferred by ambulance to the University Hospital in Düsseldorf, examinations confirmed the two fractures to his left leg. Valverde also suffered a deep wound to his tibia, without any muscle tissue affected by that cut.
The doctors taking care of Valverde’s condition have decided to operate him on his kneecap fracture tonight, which means that Valverde will remain in Germany for the next few hours and the schedule for his return home is still unconfirmed.
According to the statement from the team, his expected recovery time makes it unlikely for the Spaniard to return to racing during the current season.
he is a doper, but jeepers he is some roadman and don’t like to see that happen
He *was* a doper
Sorry to hear this…Quintana lost his worker bee!!!
That’s a real shame. He’s always up for mixing it
If the tour organizers had placed padding on the barriers at the outside of these turns this probably would not have happened. The turns were fairly sharp and narrow on a wet course and riders were traveling over 50 km per hour. Safety of the riders is very important. This was poor planning and foresight at a race that is supposed to be the top race in the world.
How much for a couple of bales of hay ffs
Couldn’t agree more. Some corners had padding. Why didn’t this one? Riders had indicated during warmup that this corner was one of the most dangerous ones in the entire course, and that’s before it started raining.
Unprofessional.
So why didn’t they just exercise a little bit of caution ?
Not everyone crashed ?
Tyre pressures too high I bet. David Miller was saying they were running far too high and on the worst type of tyres for the conditions.
Either way – terrible news for him
If they were running more than 80psi then they’re asking for trouble….who was the mechanic or rider that thought more was a good idea??
Richard Stevenson
Ailbe Ryan
Should have used a gravel grinder with aero bars!!!
Bummer news for such a great champion.
Who gives a fuck
I do.
Movistar had 2 captains, with the sad end to Valverde’s tour it’s now up to Quintana who has never had the killer instinct. He also messed up my fantasy league as I had him and Richie Port over Froome.
Real shame for the race this year
Michael Smith!