Irish U23 international Aaron Wade has been getting to grips with the elite racing scene in France of late, though he has suffered crash injuries that will keep him out of action in coming weeks.
Wade raced for Powerhouse Sport on the domestic scene in recent seasons and has joined French Division 1 squad Team U Cube 17 for the 2022 campaign.
Last weekend the 20-year-old rode the Circuit des Plages Vendéennes stage race in Challans, Vendée, but after a promising showing mid-stage he crashed in the finale of stage 1 and fractured his arm.
During that 133.2km stage on Saturday Wade suffered an early mishap when his Di2 stopped working immediately after the start. That forced him to stop, take out his seat post and unplug and reconnect the battery.
After doing that he got going again and was active at the front of the race and sprinting well as he claimed the two intermediate sprints and went into the leader’s jersey in that competition.
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However, at the finish when he was trying to lead out team mate Kevin Monlezun a crash occurred just ahead of them. And while Wade tried to avoid it, he was no successful and crashed hard in the sprint, as did several other riders.
Wade was taken to hospital after race and when he underwent X-rays they showed he had fractured his radius, the outer bone on the forearm. While he should recover from that quickly, it will keep him out of action for at least several weeks.
Wade, who turned 20-years-old last September, gained U23 international selection last year for the European Road Championships in Trento, Italy, where he rode both the road race and the TT.
While opportunities to race with the national team have been few and far between over the past two years due to Covid-19, he went to Poland last Carpathian Couriers Race last August guesting for Sweden Cycling Academy and rode strongly.
He also began last season with a period training and racing in Mallorca, where he and fellow Irish rider Marcus Christie took a number of strong results, including several wins.
