Greg Minnaar (South Africa) took fourth (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Following x-rays, Greg Minnaar discovered that he rode the remaining two minutes and 40 seconds of the World Championship downhill final last weekend in Fort William, Scotland, with a broken and dislocated shoulder. Despite losing time in the crash and riding the second portion of the race injured, Minnaar, who qualified fastest, only missed the podium, finishing fourth by a few seconds.
Minnaar will not race in Maribor, Slovenia, this weekend at the World Cup finals, and will be off the bike for at least three to four weeks. He will still travel to Maribor to support his team-mates before returning to South Africa on October 10. In particular, Minnaar will be cheering for his team-mate Matti Lehikoinen, who finished a career-best sixth place at Worlds last weekend.
"My fault I crashed. My shoulder is hurting a lot so I'm off to hospital now," said Minnaar soon after his crash. "I know I came here with enough to win and I feel that had things been a little different, there was a medal with my name on it, but I crossed it up in the woods and came down heavy. Congratulations to the guys that finished ahead of me, they did a good job."
Minnaar's shoulder has been dislocated three times this year already - all anteriorly. This dislocation was a posterior one, more uncommon and very painful. His shoulder was put back in place this time three hours after the event while he was sedated. Minnaar also suffered a fracture of his scapula.
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