Gretsch recovering from U-23 crash

Patrick Gretsch's injury from the U-23 time trial wasn't serious enough to keep him from winning the silver medal, but it turns out to be serious enough to keep him off the bike for a week. "The second place makes up for everything," the 21 year-old told the sid news agency. "It still hurts and the doctor gave me a strict one-week racing ban, but that doesn't matter now."

The young German crashed Wednesday with about three kilometres to go, and the accompanying TV motorcycle crashed over him. Gretsch told Cyclingnews after the race what had happened. "When I was down the motorbike went over me. It is hard to believe!" He suffered a deep flesh wound on his ankle, open to the bone, which had to be stitched back together at the hospital.(SW)