Annemiek van Vleuten is back on the bike immediately after her crash at the mixed relay time trial, testing out the stable fracture in her elbow. Van Vleuten rode more than 60km the day after the crash and has been out again today to test her condition. Riding with teammates Ellen van Dijk and Riejanne Markus the Dutch star struggles to get out of the saddle and pull on the bars, something she needs to do to attack with her usual style.
“My conclusion after a morning ride: I have my bike under control. However, safety comes first. I did sleep well. I’m going to try again tomorrow.
It is stable and does not require surgery. I was well researched and people wished me luck on Saturday. They think I can race, if I can bear the pain. We have to see how that goes.
It is nice that it would be medically justified to participate. We’ll have to see how things are on Thursday. I will first try to cycle on the rollers and from there we will look further. I also know that this injury won’t last forever, it’s not a long-term problem.”
Annemiek van Vleuten
The second ride today hasn’t cleared the picture too much. Team coach Loes Gunnewijk is positive about the situation, noting that Van Vleuten was able to stand up a few times today. The decision whether or not to race tomorrow hasn’t been made yet, but whilst Gunnewijk publicly says that she expects her star rider to make the start line, Van Vleuten is a little bit more pessimistic. It looks like we may see a situation similar to the Imola World Championships where a wounded Van Vleuten took part, wasn’t at 100% but still did a job marking moves and still finished on the podium. The Dutch tactics for the race will have leant heavily on Van Vleuten making attacks, especially early on Mount Keira.
