Nasty stuff: Jack Wilson's shoulder stab wound after hitting a crowd control barrier at the European Games in Baku.
Jack Wilson's troubled season has continued with a crash on what was his comeback race from a previous spill when he broke his collarbone riding for Ireland.
The An Post-Chainreaction man crashed hard yesterday in the men's road race at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The crowd control barrier he hit inflicted scrapes and a nasty looking stab wound; as the above photo reveals.
Wilson also has badly bruised ribs but hopefully can pick himself up quickly and get back into racing action as soon as possible.
The U23 rider suffered a fractured collarbone and scaphoid towards the end of the La Cote Picarde in France in April; a Nations Cup race he was riding with the Irish team.
Advertisement
Yesterday's event in Baku was his first major comeback race, although he had taken part in some races in Ireland in recent weeks.
The photos below offer some insight into the Irish camp on what was a savage outing for the men's team yesterday; racing over 215km against many WorldTour riders competing in their national colours.
Conor Dunne shows the extent of his effort in the first shot below; clearly completely exhausted having been away in the main breakaway for 200km before it was caught in the closing stages.
Dunne, who also rides for An Post-Chainreaction, had to contend with a late puncture, but got going again and finished the race.
He was in 45th place, some 6:31 down on the winner Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain.
In the second photo below, young Eddie Dunbar looks equally wasted after his effort.
He is a first-year U23 rider and is competing on the UK scene this year for NFTO Pro Cycling, a Continental team.
Teenager Dunbar has in recent months already put in some amazing rides in the UK, and in the Nations Cup race in France where Wilson crashed.
In May he had a rollercoaster day on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire; going clear in a breakaway to mop up maximum climbers' points before crashing hard.
He looked on course to take the climbers’ jersey and was also voted most aggressive rider of the day by fans of the race, meaning he was guaranteed that jersey.
But he crashed on a wet descent and broke his collarbone, forcing him out of the event.
He returned to competition just the weekend before last and while competing against some of the best riders in the world yesterday he managed to finish the race.
Dunbar was also aggressive off the front of the groups he was in at different times yesterday and eventually came home in 48th, some 14:44 down.
Dunbar and Dunne were the only two Irish finishers.
Wilson crashed out and Ryan Mullen performed team duties before abandoning having gone deep to finish 8th in the time trial last week.
Sean Downey survived well yesterday before losing contact very late in the race.
Related News
The final couple of shots below are Tweets of Ireland's only female rider at the Baku Games, Caroline Ryan.
She was 15th in her time trial last week and on Saturday rode the women's road race; getting clear solo for about 10km before abandoning.
As the final image below shows, she also mucked in helping her colleagues in the men's race yesterday.
Ryan handed them up bottles to keep them going on what was a sweltering day; great to see that Irish team spirit in full flow.
Conor Dunne shows the strain of spending 200km in the breakaway in the men's road race yesterday.
Young Eddie Dunbar looks wasted after a very testing 215km in high temperatures and under a strong sun. It was a great performance for him to even finish given he's a first-year U23 rider.
@ryan_caroline on a 10km solo break during the women's Road Race. Nice pic pic.twitter.com/F8p90uuik2
— Brian Nugent (@brian_nugent) June 20, 2015
Caroline Ryan off the front of the women's race on Saturday before she would abandon. Her main focus in Baku had been in the time trial, in which she was 15th last week.
Pic of @ryan_caroline handing water to @conordunnealot #teamwork #teamireland pic.twitter.com/XVbw8U3KpF
— Paul McDermott (@pmcdisc) June 21, 2015
With her races done and dusted, Caroline Ryan takes on a team helper role in handing up bottles to Dunne during his breakaway move yesterday. Fantastic to see the Irish team spirit captured in this photo.
Topics
