Some crappy news for NSN Cycling’s Guillaume Boivin.
The 37-year-old pro had surgery on his left shoulder following a crash on the final stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour, as his NSN Cycling team announced on Tuesday.
The Montreal native suffered a severe acromioclavicular joint separation when he hit the ground with 90 km from the finish. “Boivin was transported to the hospital where X-Rays confirmed a grade C luxation and subsequently underwent successful surgery yesterday,” a post read.
The crash in Belgium
The crash was serious enough that he lost consciousness and has little recollection of what happened. In an interview with La Presse he said, “I lost consciousness. All I remember is that it started to fall on my left, but that’s pretty much it.”
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The Tour is a few weeks away, and Boivin was doing his best to be optimistic about his chances that he could race in the world’s biggest bike race.
“When I talked to the surgeon, I was trying to do everything I could to see if it would be possible to recover in time,” he said. “I still have to accept it. It’s not fun.”
Trying to remain optimistic
The setback is especially difficult for Boivin because he had already secured his place on the Tour squad and had been preparing for the race for months. He has ridden every Tour de France since 2021 and admitted opportunities to return are becoming limited, given his age.
“I didn’t have many Tours de France left, if it wasn’t the last,” Boivin said.
There’s still plenty of season left, and there’s obviously one big race that Boivin is thinking about: the 2026 UCI road worlds in his hometown. It’s every cyclist’s dream.
“That’s what will motivate me to get back in shape for the end of the season,” he said. “I can’t end like this. I have to come back to have a big season.”
Boivin’s long career
Boivin turned pro with Steve Bauer’s Spidertech Powered by C10 in 2011. The team was part of the Canadian cycling legend’s effort to bring a Canadian squad to the Tour de France. Although they did upgrade from Continental status to ProTeam, that never happened. The team did race in some pretty big races like the Tour de Suisse, and had wins in long-running races like Tro Bro Leon.
From there, Boivin would join WorldTour team Cannondale for a few years, before bouncing around with stints on a few Conti squads. Ultimately, he would find a home with the team then known as Israel Cycling Academy, which would become a WorldTour team for several years. For 2026, it was rebranded as NSN Cycling. In his long career, he has been a three-time national road champion, and had a terrific ride in the maple leaf jersey at the 2021 Paris-Roubaix, where he finished ninth.