Rachel Atherton out of action for three more months
Rachel Atherton will be out of action for three to four months after her crash in training (Atherton Racing)
Downhill world champion Rachel Atherton will be out of action for the next three to four months after she sustained nerve damage to her left shoulder in a road accident during a pre-season training camp in America.
The Animal Commencal star is undergoing surgery, and hopes to recover in time to defend her title at the World Championships in Australia in September.
In the meantime, she'll be joining Freecaster.tv as a commentator on the Nissan UCI World Cup Series. You can follow Rachel’s recovery on her blog.
Team director Dan Brown said: “The nerve in Rachel’s shoulder has seen little improvement over the past four weeks so the surgeon has taken the decision to operate. We’re hoping Rachel will be back in training in around three to four months so there’s still a chance she will compete at the World Championships."
Fellow Animal Commencal riders Dan and Gee Atherton are looking to stamp their authority on the 2009 season. Dan will be looking for his first 4X win of the season this weekend (1-3 May) at the World Cup round in Houffalize, Belgium. World champion Gee will be looking for top spots in the next downhill rounds in France and Andorra.
With Rachel out of the running for this year's women's World Cup title, all eyes will be on Brit Tracy Moseley and Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier. Moseley is on a new, lighter bike this year (Trek Session 88), and returned to form with a win at the first World Cup round in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Jonnier is always a strong contender, and she's also on a new bike (Rocky Mountain Flatline).
User Comments
There are 6 comments on this post
Showing 1 - 6 of 6 comments
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Callum on a felt f4:-)
Posted Sat 2 May, 4:03 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
anybody else aggree she looks better in the bike gear?
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Shiny Flu
Posted Sat 2 May, 5:31 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
What can we learn from this kids?
Injuries are no fun. Whilst not wearing a helmet barreling downhill into oncoming traffic can be justified because she's an adult and more importantly 'a pro'. Causing the accident yourself really rubs salt (with wool steel) into the wound.
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Tom Barton
Posted Sat 2 May, 11:25 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
The internet and its world of interesting comments never ceases to amaze me.
She looks good full stop... Personally the t-shirt and shades do it for me... Perhaps its just a latent bike gear fetish ;-)
And my god that high horse of yours is at serious risk of falling and damaging that supreme smugness of yours Shiny Flu. I'm sure more than any other person in the world that Rachel will apreciate her error of judgement. And I hasten to add that it wasn't all that long ago that you could watch the guys of the tour de france bombing around mountains at huge speeds with nothing more than lyrca and hope with a variety of motorcycles and support cars around them. It seems a hangover of previous helmet uncoolness that admittedly is waning thank goodness...
I just hope shes fit in time to get some points racked up before the end of the season. Good luck to her!
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klerric
Posted Sun 3 May, 6:29 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
bla bla bla....give gal a break. I agree with Tom. After all she has injured her shoulder not her good looking head!! all said and done she is hard core so for sure she will be back hungry...ding dang doo.
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bigchazrocks
Posted Tue 5 May, 11:50 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Yup. Good on the gal.
I like her. She's friendly and geniuine (and hot, but thats an entirely different argument).
Hope she recovers fast, and is back on form ASAP. Can't have any of the other ladies getting used to the top spot - it's unfair on them when they get smashed off again when she's back to health!
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Shiny Flu
Posted Thu 7 May, 7:58 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
She was riding in America on an open road. She crossed the double line illegally to cut into the corner going downhill. In order to avoid the (legally correct) truck traveling uphill, she crashed.
Road riders in the Tour de France have closed roads. The team cars/motorcycles are driven by people who are aware that they are driving in a cycle race with cyclists all around them. Even a neck-brace wont stop you from breaking your back if the forces are strong enough.
I'm just saying that this isn't 'training accident'. It was a traffic incident, in which it was caused by Rachael Atherton.
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