Stuyven forced to abandon the Vuelta a Espana after stage victory

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Just a few hours after celebrating his first victory as a professional rider at the Vuelta a Espana, Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing) has been forced to abandon the final Grand Tour of the season because of a fractured left scaphoid.

The young Belgian rider crashed with 50km to go in the stage along with Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin), and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC). Their injuries forced them out of the race. But Stuyven got back up, fought the pain in his hand and managed to win the stage. However x-rays later confirmed the fracture, meaning it was impossible for him to continue in the Vuelta a Espana. Stuyven celebrated his victory with his teammates wearing a cast on his lower arm to immobilise his hand.

"Like I said after the finish, I felt my wrist and it was getting more and more painful, so I asked to go to the hospital to make the check. I was already scared that it could be the scaphoid because I know from friends who are cyclists what the pain feels like and where it’s located. And, unfortunately, the X-rays confirmed that it is broken and that my Vuelta finishes today," Stuyven said in a statement from his Trek Factory Racing Team.

Team doctor Nino Daniele, who accompanied Stuyven to the hospital explained that Stuyven will undergo surgery on his hand.

"The fracture is not dislocated, so in fact it won’t be difficult to resolve it, but it goes without saying that Jasper cannot ride his bike for now. First of all, it would be very painful, but then it’s also possible that the broken bones move and we absolutely want to avoid that," Daniele said.

"If anything goes well, as I hope, in a couple of weeks, he should be back on the bike and probably sooner on the rollers with his cast," the team doctor confirmed.