CSC rider Lars Bak will be out of action for about ten days after an examination Monday revealed he had four broken ribs.
Bak crashed in Tirreno-Adriatico and had been experiencing pain ever since, but nevertheless rode the first stage of Critérium International on Saturday. He finished, but was outside the time limit. It turns out that's hardly surprising.
"I've had quite a lot of pains, but not more than I chose to participate in the Criterium International this weekend," Bak said on the team's website. "But just to be sure, I underwent an examination when I got back to Luxembourg, and now I know why I was in so much pain for the past couple of weeks. I've been able to deal with the pain, so I didn't think anything was broken. I can still work out on my home trainer, but I'm not racing for a while, as I can feel every little bump in the road, and it would be too dangerous to crash again with four broken ribs. Now I'm taking a break and slowly start to rebuild my form. I hope to be back on the road in about 10 days."
