Knee swelling for Belgian hope but expected to be okay to continue
Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) was one of the big names to be brought down in the mass pile up that hit the peloton in the final 200 metres of today’s fifth stage of the Tour de France. The 30-year-old Belgian, who hopes to better his fourth places overall of 2010 and 2012 this time, came down on his knee but was treated by team doctor Jan Mathieu and osteopath Tim Aerts immediately afterwards.
“In front of me [FDJ’s Nacer] Bouhanni was one of the riders that crashed and before I realised I was on the ground,” explained Van Den Broeck. “The pain is mainly situated on my knee which was seriously hit.
“For the rest the damage is not too bad,” he added. “Some minimal abrasions but that heals fast. I’m curious to see how I will get up tomorrow. After three days on Corsica you’re happy that you can start the rest of the Tour in one piece, but as I told several times something can happen here every day.”
Mathieu was happy to allow Van Den Broeck to continue the race, having established that the Belgian had not broken any bones, but will be monitoring the rider’s knee in the coming days.
“The nuisance is situated mainly on the right knee where he has a serious swelling,” Mathieu explained. “Luckily for Jurgen and the team has hasn’t fractured anything. After further treatment, an evening and a night of recuperation we’ll see tomorrow morning how matters stand.
“We assume he will start tomorrow.”