Matteo Trentin is assisted after crashing out of Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) has returned home, where he will undergo further medical examinations before deciding when he can return to racing. The 28-year-old fell heavily in Paris-Roubaix, suffering a thoracic spine fracture, and as a result he will wear a brace for roughly a month.
“Now I’m home I’m just going to rest and enjoy time with my family. My next crash will be on the sofa and hopefully that’s the end of the bad luck,” Trentin told Cyclingnews in between flights.
“I spent three days in hospital but I’m home now. It feels like a truck ran over me, if I’m honest, but that’s just how it is. I don’t know how long I’ll be off the bike but it could be around a month as I need to keep my spine straight, and I’m wearing a cast in order to do that. I still need another examination, and then from there I’ll know exactly how long I’ll miss. I don’t want to rush things, and while I have the cast I can’t train.”
Trentin moved to Mitchelton-Scott from Quick-Step Floors in the winter and was expected to lead the line for the Australian team in the Classics. His only top-10 came in Gent-Wevelgem, where he finished seventh in the sprint behind winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).
The Italian, however, was playing catch-up all spring. In January, he fell in training and fractured a rib, and although he was able to train soon after, the disruption to his schedule put him on the back foot.
His bad luck was epitomised by his ride in Flanders, where he looked strong but was forced to use vital in energy after crashing when coming back from a nature break.
“In Flanders I was in good shape but then I was caught up and then spent 40km chasing back,” he said. “When I got back to the front I just ran out of gas.”
The fall on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix effectively ended Trentin’s spring, and now all attention turns to his recovery programme and the second half of the season.
“I remember everything from the fall. Before I landed I did this flip over in the air and all the weight of the fall went on my spine,” he said.
“For sure, luck has not been on my side in the last few months. I wasn’t that happy with the Classics. I had maybe the best form I’ve had during this period but I wasn’t able to really show it. Then at Milan-San Remo I couldn’t close the gap on Nibali, so the results overall weren’t what I was hoping.”
Despite his recent bad luck, Trentin has no regrets over his move to Mitchleton-Scott.
“The positive signs are that I can be there with the best but I still didn’t have the results I was looking for,” he said. “I feel really good in the team, and I think we’ve had a really good approach to the Classics. Getting injured in January wasn’t the best time for a rider preparing for the Classics. I don’t think the results really reflected my condition but I’m confident of getting back and ready soon.”
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
