I just ran across this on cyclingnews.com and thought the forum would be interested . . .
Viatcheslav Ekimov has had a nasty fall while training with Discovery Channel teammate Lance Armstrong in Austin, Texas, which has put his chances of riding the Tour de France in doubt. The pair were riding together on Thursday at midday when they were hit by a car. Ekimov was taken to hospital in Austin where he was diagnosed with a broken sternum and a broken vertebrae.
His close friend Dirk Baert told Het Nieuwsblad, “I had him on the line on Thursday night and Friday. He could barely talk because of the pain. Slava hopes to transfer to St. Petersburg as quickly as possible. He must wear a corset for six weeks. By that time, we’ll already be halfway through June. The chance that he will ride with Armstrong in the Tour is very small.”
That sucks. They just had a great article with pictures from a training ride that the two had done the previous day.
Firts off, I hope that Eki is all right and that he recovers quickly. He appears to be a great guy and obviously a great teamate and rider for Discovery.
On a less important tack, I think this hurts Lance’s chances just a bit more because Eki is so important as his guard in the peleton as well as a heavy hitter in the TTT.
I hope he gets better soon. I would like to see him race again at the T-Mobile Race.
Too bad about Ekimov. That’s really unfortunate for him, the team and Lance.
Great shots from the training ride. I love that kind of stuff - gravel roads, a few cows wandering across the road, a little stream crossing. Now that’s riding.
Reminds me of the stories that former 7-11 Pro Alex Steida told me about the “Close the loop” rides that the team would do years ago. No matter what, they had to close the loop on a ride - no out and back, ever! Sometimes this meant banging along a gravel road for a while, sometimes it meant a cyclo-cross expedition across a farmers field. Puts the adventure back into training.
“HOT! Eki Hurt in Training Crash - 4/30/2005
DEVELOPING: Viatcheslav “Eki” Ekimov was injured in a training crash yesterday outside of Austin, TX. Eki was training with Lance - who did not crash nor is he injured at all - when he went down. Contrary to other reports, he was not hit by a car but apparently taken down by a hole in the road. We’ll have a full team report ASAP once all the facts are known. More soon…”
This is terrible news for a long list of reasons. First and foremost, Because Ekimov is the real deal: A class act and an amazing professional athlete IMO. I admire and respect him and his work ethic.
I hope both Eki and Lance Armstrong recomver quickly and completely.