23-year old Ben Hermans has had an accident at home that will prevent him from attending the first meeting of his new RadioShack team. A broken foot sustained in an accident in his kitchen means that he will have to delay the beginning of his training for 2010, as well as his first meeting with his new American team.
“I’d had breakfast when I tripped and bumped my foot against a cupboard,” said the young Belgian in his local newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.
“I have two broken toes. Initially it was thought that it would need an operation, but it is ultimately not necessary. I would have more problems from the pins of the fracture itself. In about two to three weeks I can train again, maybe even sooner.”
Hermans spent 2009 riding for the Professional Continental Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator team, picking up a number of good results, including 14th at la Flèche Wallonne and second places at the GP Kanton Aargau-Gippingem and stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos. The move to Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team represents a considerable step up for the 23-year-old.
He is one of three Belgians who have signed for the new team – as well as the team manager Johan Bruyneel – but he will have to stay home while the others make the trip this weekend. “Normally I would leave for America on Sunday with Gert Steegmans and Sebastien Rosseler,” he said, “but that won’t happen now. The trip would make no sense, because I can’t ride at the moment.”