Jack Wilson, left, tries to get the front of a large breakaway organised at the Tour of Britain on stage 2 before his bad crash (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Having taken some fantastic results in France last month and generally appearing to be at a much higher level this year than last, young Irish rider Jack Wilson had a day of extremes yesterday.
The An Post-Chainreaction man spent some of stage 2 of the Tour of Britain in a very promising breakaway and was then named on the Irish team for the U23 road race at the World Championships in Spain in two weeks.
But just as those teams were being unveiled back home and the Tour of Britain stage was coming to a close in Wales, Wilson hit the deck in a crash. It looked like he had broken his collar bone and his World Championship ride was gone.
Advertisement
However, the former U23 national road race champion climbed out of the ditch he found himself in with around 15km remaining, dusted himself off and got back on his back; still not absolutely sure if his collarbone was fractured.
He showed great character in riding the final stretch of the 200km stage from Knowsley to Llandudno on his own. He finished last of the field after 200km, in 117 place some 11 minutes 55 seconds after Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) crossed the line with his hands in the air in triumph.
Wilson at the front of the field with one of the Tinkoff-Saxo men as the riders ready to start racing on the roll out of stage 2 yesterday (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
But crucially, Wilson had finished. And so he lives to fight another day. A very tough 180km stage 3 awaited him today, Tuesday, from Newtown to the summit of The Tumble; a cat 1 climb that should put real shape on the general classification.
Related News
“The race was going well, I got into a split of around 25 riders at the start and we got a good gap but it got too big so we got brought back,” said Wilson of the earlier section of yesterday’s stage before his crash.
“I was in the bunch after that for the rest of the day and then with about 15km to go there was a left hand bend and a few guys in front of me locked up and moved right.
“I was on the right of the road and I got pushed into the hedge and down into a ditch. I was in a good bit of pain but got up and rode the rest of the stage on my own.”
In the period after the stage, Wilson was still unsure what kind of damage he had done, fearing his collar bone may have taken a worse battering. However, a badly bruised left shoulder has been diagnosed rather than a fracture.
“It settled overnight and I’ve a bit more movement in the shoulder now; it’s muscular damage,” Wilson told stickybottle before the off this morning.
While still in pain and facing a long day concluding on a summit finish and competing against some of the biggest teams and riders in the world, Wilson said he was very keen to make the best of the week ahead.
“I'm still going to give it 110 per cent,” he said.
“Kurt has given me a massive opportunity to ride here so I'm not going to let a crash spoil it,” he added, referring to his manager at An Post-Chainreaction Kurt Bogaerts.
He would try to get up the road in a breakaway again, but added getting clear was always tough competing against WorldTour opposition.
“It might be even harder now that I'm a bit damaged, but we’ll see what happens.”
Topics
