Pogačar gets green light from doctors to train for Tour de France after broken wrist

Tadej Pogačar has been given the green light from his doctors to “fully train on the road” with an arm brace, as the two-time Tour winner sets his sights to prepare himself for the Grand Départ in July after suffering a broken wrist almost seven weeks ago in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"The results of the computed tomography (CT) are positive. The bones are healing well. From now on, he can fully train on the road and will stop training on the trainer. Then, as a precaution, he will continue to use an arm brace," Pogačar's UAE Emirates team told the Dutch website WielerFlits .

"The treatment is going well and it no longer hinders him from training, but he still needs rehabilitation," the team added.

A week ago, Tadej Pogačar said at an online press conference that he is still waiting for the final medical green light. The all-clear from the team allows the Slovenian champion to train with full load on his left wrist, which he broke during an early crash at the Ardennes monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 23.

> He's back... Tadej Pogačar returns to Strava with 30km/h mountain epic

Pogačar, though has already admitted to defying the doctor’s order and went on his first road training session in May. And earlier this week, he posted his first update in weeks on Strava — an almost 100-mile ride at altitude in 40°C heat, climbing more than 4,000m of elevation at an average speed of 19mph (30.5km/h) in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where he’s been training at the Team UAE camp.

 

 

 

 

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“First of all, I shouldn’t go on the road before six weeks, so I’m a bit stupid and I disobeyed the doctor’s orders,” Pogačar said. “I pushed the team and tried to go on the bike, but I knew that I couldn’t put too much pressure on the scaphoid.”

“Obviously, I’m riding with a plastic cast that I can take off and on. Now I have a few different casts – one for normal life, one for the bike, and then one for when I’m almost at the end for a bit of support. I’m taking care every day,” he added.

The camp at Sierra Nevada ends on June 11th, after which Pogačar will head to Sestriere in the French Alps with his team for the final training stage before the Tour de France begins in Bilbao on July 1st.

> Tadej Pogačar forced to abandon Liège-Bastogne-Liège after early crash, suffers fractures

But before the Grand Départ of the 110th edition of the Tour in the Basque Country, Pogačar will warm up competitively at the national championship in Slovenia in the third week of June: first with a time trial and then at a road race.

Pogačar has confirmed that despite not being able to train on the road, he has been working rigorously indoors, running and cycling on rollers. “I lost some training and couldn't do much on the road in the last four weeks. So I need to focus more on the intervals and long training sessions outside,” he said last week.

“I've been training quite well on the home trainer and running. The shape is not as bad as I thought it was going to be after training on the rollers, and the wrist is getting better every day. And now I'll try to get as much as possible out of this camp here.

"Hopefully I will be 100 per cent for the Tour. Maybe the wrist will not be at 100 per cent, but I think the legs can be – you don't need wrists to train the legs.”