The story of Jonathan Page's current season is an interesting one; the story begins with high hopes, a minor crash, then a major downturn, a risky return and two hopeful runner-up positions. Cyclingnews' Brecht Decaluwé talked to the determined American about his season so far, and his future plans.
It all started with a minor crash during his warm up before the first big race of the season, the world cup event in Aigle - right next to the UCI headquarters - on October 1st. Page described the mishap that put a major wrench in his season's plans, "It was a stupid little crash really. I was only going a mile per hour or so. I was purposely being cautious as I checked out the slippery turns."
"The problem was that I fell from a sloping downhill onto a flat ground. My front wheel slipped out and I fell just right (or wrong as it turns out) on my forearm/elbow. My shoulder dislocated. I blacked out for a few seconds, put my shoulder back into place, and then blacked out for a few more seconds."
Eventually, Page was brought over to hospital where the doctor misidentified his injury as a simple dislocated shoulder. "So I would just have to wear a brace for 3 weeks and then I'd be all right to race again. I figured on 2 weeks or less... But 2 weeks later, I couldn't pick my arm up myself yet, and when I tried to do the physical therapy that I was supposed to be able to do, my shoulder came out of joint every time and it was incredibly painful."
"My wife noticed that my arm and back were getting increasingly more bruised." Page continued, "I went to see a specialist and was surprised to hear that I would need surgery as soon as possible to repair a completely torn tendon. Two days later I went to surgery and there they found that I had not just one but two completely torn tendons (the two major ones) and had ruptured 8cm of muscle," Page explains about the minor crash and the major downturn.
