Australian broke ribs at first Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project gathering in Switzerland
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No one should forget that Stuart O'Grady is a former winner(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Saxo Bank teammates Stuart O'Grady and Fabian Cancellara set tempo on the Col des Saisies.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Eventual winner Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC) on the road to victory.(Image credit: Gregor Brown / Cyclingnews)
Stuart O’Grady (Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project) is expected to take part in the Tour Down Under in spite of breaking his ribs in a recent skiing accident in the Swiss Alps.
O’Grady suffered the rib injury at his new team’s first gathering in Crans Montana, Switzerland, last week but his brother Darren told the Herald Sun that he is already on the road to recovery.
“He told us he’s OK and that he’s back home in Monaco,” Darren O’Grady explained. “Look he’s fit, and he thinks it will take him a couple of weeks to recover. He should be firing by the time the Tour Down Under comes around.”
The 2011 Tour Down Under takes place from January 18-23 and race director Mike Turtur is confident that one of the main attractions of his event will be present. O’Grady has won the Tour Down Under on two occasions (1999 and 2001) and the race takes place around his home city of Adelaide.
"He knows exactly what it takes, the type of treatment he needs to undertake to be ready to go for the tour here in Adelaide," Turtur told ABC Sport. "So I suspect that being through the experience several times before really puts him in the position to make a prediction that he'll be OK."
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Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
