Thomas Fallon's stint riding with Vacansoleil last year has been followed by injury and he has not raced since last August. Seen here riding the Junior World Track Championships in Glasgow last year, he's now rebuilding and hoping for a ride in the U23 European Championships if his knee recovers.
By Brian Canty
One name that may have crept under the radar this weekend was that of former Irish junior international Thomas Fallon who made a welcome return to competition at the Kanturk Three Day almost eight months since his last race.
The 19-year-old Loughrea rider has been dogged with a very troublesome knee injury since the start of the year but was only diagnosed last month.
He subsequently had knee surgery to correct a condition known as plica syndrome, which manifests in swelling and inflammation of the knee.
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But he has been back on the bike the last few weeks, just not enough to be a threat this weekend. His 13th overall was solid enough considering he is only coming back and he is now looking forward to a strong second half of the season if he stays pain-free.
Fallon, who rode the World Track Championships in Glasgow last year and was also on the Irish team for the Junior Tour said while he tried to get away over three days in Kanturk at the weekend the only man who managed to get a gap was Eddie Dunbar.
"I was only trying to get a few seconds and move up overall,” he said of his modest aspirations in his first race back.
“I was 50 seconds down; not so bad and you have to start somewhere. That was my first stage race back since last year. I did Bohermeen last week and before that it was last August since I raced I’d say.
"I got a good winter up until the middle of January but my knee acted up, I had plica in it. It was the same thing Sam Bennett had I think, and it took the doctors a while to figure out what it was.
“They thought it was tendonitis, but I wasn’t sure. I had an excellent winter up until then, I took a few days off the bike in January and it just started to get worse.
“I couldn’t even do an hour on the bike in February so I got it looked at by a physio and he referred me to a woman in the Galway Clinic. She gave me an injection and that worked for four weeks but I was off the bike and I was still no better.
"They still didn’t know what it was. One minute it was tendons, I had MRIs and everything but they couldn’t tell because it was inflamed. I was still missing training and this was the end of February, I lost a month there.
“So I was referred to another guy who does knee surgery and he had one look and said it was plica. He has a fair idea of what the surgery entailed so the operation was the only option.
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“That was another few weeks to get done, I got that five weeks ago and then picked up a virus after it and that put me back again.
"So I’ve done very little since January, really. Up to then it was 100 per cent though; the best in a long time. I ate right, did everything right and Martin (O'Loughlin, coach) has always stood by me, and not just him so a big thanks to those.
"I was nervous coming down here this weekend though, because it was sore the whole time. Saturday was sore, but I have difene (medication to alleviate inflammation) for it.
“It was still sore in the TT, it was awful sore there and it really only started coming around today, the rain seemed to cool the pain, but I can feel it getting better every day."
While clearly playing catch up on his peers, he still feels he could get back to international level and target the track this year.
"I should be fully pain-free by mid May,” Fallon said.
“I’ve lost the first part of my season but there’s a lot to come yet. The other U23s are going well so when I get back fully fit it’ll be interesting to see where I’m going to be.
“I don’t know what to expect. The form is alright, I was expecting to be way off this weekend but it was okay. There’s a long year there left yet.
"I’ll take the nationals as they come. The European track championships are my real goal, if I can get on a team for them. That’d be my major target. I was putting pressure on my knee this weekend and I felt the power was there, so with some intervals I’m hoping to get up to scratch."
Fallon rode for most of last year in the colours of the Vacansoleil youth team which was affiliated to the pro team of the same name.
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