Bessette tumbles in training

By Rob Jones in Melbourne

With the 18th Commonwealth Games set to get under way tomorrow, the riders had a chance to do some training today. The biggest news was the crash that Canada's Lyne Bessette suffered. Bessette, a favourite for the road race and time trial, was training on the mountain bike course in the mid-afternoon. According to Canadian Technical Director Kris Westwood, "It was a rocky, technical section and she just missed a turn and went off the edge of the course. It was slow speed - less than 10 kilometres an hour - but she went down on her shoulder."

Bessette suffered a dislocated shoulder (her left). It is not the same shoulder she crashed on a few weeks ago at the Geelong stage race. Westwood added, "It is the least damage that she could suffer with this type of injury. Right now, she is hurting pretty badly, but it appears that she should be able to race the road race. We are playing it day-by-day, but she has 10 days to recover before the road race (March 26th). Lyne is in the best spirits than can be expected, given the circumstances."

Bessette was scheduled to race the time trial on March 21st, but that is more doubtful (and the mountain bike race on March 23rd is extremely unlikely).