Irish road race champion has suffered a major blow after crashing at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and fracturing his leg, which will result in missing many of his favoured spring races
Rory Townsend, the Irish men’s road race champion who has just started his two-year contract with Unibet Rose Rockets, now faces a period on the sidelines after crashing at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and fracturing his leg.
He came down in spectacular, and painful, circumstances on Sunday in the Belgian one-day race, won by Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike). Medical checks diagnosed a fractured tibia, or shin bone.
Just how long he will be out of action for is unknown. However, the injury is a major setback as he has become a specialist in the breakaways in one-day races, winning ADAC Cyclassics (1.UWT) last year from such a move.
Townsend (30) took to social media to confirm the news, saying he had gone “over the bars and into recovery mode”.
He does, at least, have the comfort of knowing this has happened so early in the season he will have plenty of time to come back for lots of racing in the months ahead.
“Yesterday at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne my race ended after around 60km. I went over the bars and landed straight on my knee. Unfortunately, scans showed a fractured tibia,” he said.
“Not the update I wanted to share, and it means I’ll be out for a while. Pretty frustrating, but the focus now is recovery and coming back stronger.
“Big thanks to everyone who helped me on the spot, and special mention to my personal nurse, Marcel Kittel… even taking my pants off after the crash. I’ll be back.”