Christian Vande Velde cycled 10 minutes on a stationary bike trainer at his home in Girona, Spain, on Monday. That’s great news for anyone who saw him lying motionless on an Italian road last week, but not much of a workout for a man expected to challenge for the Tour de France podium in July.
The captain of Boulder-based Team Garmin-Slipstream was nevertheless in good spirits despite suffering a fractured rib, a serious contusion, a midback sprain and a hairline fracture of his pelvis May 11 during Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia. He was in the team car watching teammates compete in the Vuelta Catalunya around Girona when he gave an update.
“I’m pretty good,” said Vande Velde, a one-time Boulder resident. “I’m playing with my daughter. My back is better. (The trainer session) went OK. I wanted to see if I was in pain in that position or not. I really wasn’t in that much pain. It was more just distracting.”
He will race in the Tour de France. Whether he’ll race as Christian Vande Velde, podium threat, or Christian Vande Velde, stage threat, will be determined during the next month of training. He said he may get back on the road later this week, which would not be a lot of missed time.
Then again, if he misses two weeks, he’ll have to play catch-up.
“He’s got to, by a week from today, be riding at least 30-40 miles a day,” team director Jonathan Vaughters said. “Then, by the first of June he’s got to be able to be doing full 100-mile-type rides. If he can stay on that schedule, then he’ll be fine for the Tour. We’ll see.
“From 10 minutes on the wind trainer to 100 miles, that’s a ways.”
Said Vande Velde: “It’s still a long year. I’m not downplaying anything.”
His injury could be a major blow to a team that had a legitimate podium shot in only its second year in the Tour. Vande Velde, who turns 33 on Friday, finished fifth last year and admittedly made mistakes.
Although Spaniard Alberto Contador of Team Astana is this year’s Tour favorite, the rest of the field is wide open.
The biggest net positive is Vande Velde is alive. He crashed going 37 mph downhill heading toward the finish at Valdobbiadene near the Dolomites. Another rider took out his front wheel and it went into the other bike’s derailleur.
“I’ve never been that scared before, ever,” Vande Velde said. “It was really scary. Where you’re scared to be moved, you’re scared by your neck and your back, it wasn’t fun. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
