Giant-Alpecin's Tom Dumoulin feeling the pain after his crash in which he fractured his radius (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Giant-Alpecin's Tom Dumoulin was forced to abandon the Tour de France during stage 19 following a crash on route to the finish in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc on Friday. Cyclingnews spoke with the team's doctor outside the x-ray truck following the stage, and he confirmed a broken radius bone. His participation at the Olympic Games could be in question.
"Tom has fractured his radius in his left forearm," said team physician Stephan Jacolino in a statement sent out by the team later in the day. "It's a clean fracture and further examinations have shown no additional fracture of the wrist joint, which is good news. Tom will have further tests in the Netherlands to determine if surgery is required to stabilise the fracture and to make a treatment plan."
Dumoulin crashed with roughly 90km into the day's 146km stage from Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. It is unclear how the crash happened, however, video footage showed him laying on the ground tangled up with a rider from Dimension Data.
Dumoulin quickly stood up but it was apparent that there was a serious injury as he was holding his wrist in pain. Within a few minutes, his team vehicle arrived and Dumoulin climbed in the car abandoning the race altogether.
When Cyclingnews spoke with Giant-Alpecin's doctor after the stage, he said Dumoulin will need 44 days for full recovery. The Olympic Games is still a 'maybe', however. Dumoulin was then transported to hospital for a full evaluation.
"It's a huge setback," Dumoulin said in the team statement. "After the crash I instantly knew it was bad news. Luckily it is a clean fracture. As a precaution I have a cast but I can't ride a bike with it. If I need to keep this for two weeks, then my participation in Rio will be difficult.
"Tomorrow I go back to the Netherlands and we can see how we proceed. I really hope I will be ready for the Olympics. At the moment there is too little information to say anything more about that objective."
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Dumoulin has had a strong showing at this year's Tour de France, winning stage 9 to Andorra Arcalis and the stage 13 time trial to Pont d'Arc. He was also second in the stage 18 mountain time trial to Megeve on Thursday.
With his powerful performances in the time trials at the French Grand Tour, Dumoulin built his confidence ahead of the Olympic Games, where he was aiming for a gold medal in the time trial.
"We are very disappointed about the situation, for Tom and for the whole team," said Giant-Alpecin coach Marc Reef. "Tom's Tour was already very successful but this injury is a big setback towards Rio. Now we have to see what our options are to be able to make the best possible plan for the next weeks."
