Taberlay injured
At the MTB Marathon World Cup in Québec (Mont-Sainte-Anne) on June 18, multiple Australian champion...
At the MTB Marathon World Cup in Québec (Mont-Sainte-Anne) on June 18, multiple Australian champion Sid Taberlay (Specialized Factory) had an accident and injured his shoulder. The crash happened on wet soil made extremely slippery after a week on rain in Canada.
"Starting out on the road for the first 15 km, we turned onto the dirt, straight up a greasy hill. I wasn't prepared for the turn off and found myself about 10 riders back," Taberlay told Cyclingnews. "By the top of the climb I was in a group of three with a gap back on the rest of the field. The gap was shortly closed by half a dozen riders, which stayed together for the next hour, until we all missed an unmarked turn off. Two kilometres down the fire road and with no markings we knew there was a problem. Heading back we found the course and saw a number of riders ahead of us. The pace lifted, knowing we where some time behind the front guys. The group split with Liam [Killeen, the later winner and teammate of Taberlay], two Italian riders and I leading the chase."
That's when the accident happened. "Liam went on to win and I came pretty close to coming home early. On a muddy descent I slipped into a rut, being spat out of it into a tree. I had to be carried out and off to the hospital with a suspected broken collar bone. The x-rays denied me my first broken bone, although they did nothing for the discomfort I was in..." Taberlay is now back in training on road, but "only in the saddle. I can't get out of the saddle with my right shoulder not being able to hold my weight. It's improving each day and hopefully will be OK for Saturday's World Cup."
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