Trouble for Rabobank at Tour de France

Thursday 09 July 2009

There was trouble for Rabobank's team at the Tour de France cycling race on Wednesday after Robert Gesink crashed out with a broken wrist.

Gesink is being flown back to the Netherlands on Thursday for further research. He fell while making a descent on the fifth day of the tour but remounted to complete the 196.5km stage from Le Cap D'Adge to Perpignan. The break was discovered later.

Gesink, who was taking part in his first tour, had been one of the favourites to take the young rider's title.

'I wasn’t pushed or anything like that. It was just a very stupid moment' Gesink said in an interview on the Rabo sport website. 'During the descent of the second climb all of a sudden everyone hit the brakes. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, couldn’t stop, and all of a sudden I flipped over.

'Initially I thought it wasn’t that bad. I immediately saw the grazes and was ok with that. But then my wrist started to really hurt. I tried to break my fall with that hand. That’s what did me in.'

Rabobank's star rider and Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov of Russia crashed during Tuesday's fourth stage but got back on his bike without any serious injuries.

Dutch cyclist Piet Rooijakkers, who cycles for the Skil Shimano team, withdrew from the Tour on Wednesday after a seven-hour operation to repair a broken forearm.

A total of 20 teams, each with nine riders, are taking part in the race, which finishes on July 26 in Paris.

© DutchNews.nl

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