Monday, August 1, 2011

RadioShack's Chris Horner is diagnosed with blood clot, after Tour fall


Chris Horner is adding to his, already long, list of injuries, after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung,

Horner was one of a series of riders who had to pull out of the tour, after suffering heavy crashes. The American hit the deck on stage seven; he got back on his bike and continued to the end, despite suffering from severe concussion, a fractured rib, a broken nose and injuries to his leg. By the time he got to the finish line, he barely knew who or where he was.

He has since returned to Colorado and had begun training, for the Tour of Utah, but started complaining of pains in his side. Horner went to hospital and was diagnosed with a blood clot; he will begin blood thinning treatment, to remove the clot.

Falling Hard
The 2011 Tour had a very heavy attrition rate, compared with recent years, and his own team had four riders withdraw. The Slovenian, Janez Brajkovic, was forced to pull out, after suffering head injuries on stage five. Andreas Kloden finally gave up, after riding several stages, with multiple injuries; the German could hardly walk by the time he quit. Ever present Yaroslav Popovych also had to pull out, after contracting a fever.

Alexander Vinokorov suffered one of the biggest crashes of the tour, when he broke his pelvis and femur. The Astana rider was thrown in to a tree, on a crash marred stage nine and had to be assisted in walking.

A Spate of Falls
There have been several big crashes, in the Grand Tours, and none more so than Wouter Weylandt’s fatal one, during the Giro d’Italia. The Belgian’s pedal clipped a wall, on a very fast descent, throwing him from his bike. There were some scary moments on the following stage, when Tom Slagter came down very hard. The Rabobank rider lay on the road motionless, for several moments, but came away with a broken eye socket.

The recent flurry of major crashes brings up a few questions; are the races becoming too dangerous or are the peloton getting nervous, in these situations?

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