Kreuziger withdraws from Worlds road race

Roman Kreuziger announced today that he has withdrawn from the UCI Road World Championship to be contested in Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday. The 25-year-old Czech is still recovering from a double microfracture in his left wrist suffered during a crash in stage 7 of the Tour de France, an injury which wasn't diagnosed until after he had finished the Tour.

While he hasn't competed since the Tour, Kreuziger was pleased with recent training sessions and hopeful that he would return to racing at the world championships, but he decided the risk of re-injury was too great.

"We have evaluated the circuit and it is very technical and therefore dangerous," he said on his website. "The world championships is also a race with a lot of falls and it would be a great risk of injury if I start the race. If I fell I would have to start my treatment again from the beginning. I have suffered with it enough and I don't want it to happen again.

"I will continue to train with a splint for two weeks and we will do a further examination in Italy with the team doctor. Based on the results I will decide if I will race in October at Emilia and Lombardy. If there are any problems I will end my season."

Kreuziger kept in regular contact with the Czech national team coach René Andrle and he was grateful for the support.

"We were in daily contact. He knew about my problems and I thank him that he waited this long. I do not know if they will be able to have a sub for me or not, but until the last moment I believed that I could start."

The Astana rider's season had been highlighted by a sixth place overall finish and first in the best young rider classification at the Giro d'Italia plus a stage win in the Giro del Trentino.