Absalon injured in training crash
Frenchman postpones the start of his season
Due to injuries from a crash, Julien Absalon (Orbea) will not begin his season at the GP Jean Masse as planned on Sunday in Marseilles.
While training on his mountain bike, Absalon clipped a tree and crashed. He bruised his knee and fractured his right thumb. The two-time Olympic mountain bike champion will now likely make his first racing appearance on March 11 at the Copa Catalana Internacional in Banyoles. That race is scheduled one week before the first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup of the 2012 season, to be held the next week in South Africa.
"I hit a tree with the outside of my handlebars," said Absalon according to velovert.com. "I was thrown to the ground. I'm not doing so badly. It could have been more serious."
"The swelling in my knee is going down quickly and should allow me to resume training on the road soon. It will take a little longer for the thumb fracture to heal."
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