04/07/2024

Ion Izagirre is racing the Tour de France with a broken rib: "I'll get better as the days go by"

Ion Izagirre is racing the Tour de France 2024 with a broken rib. The veteran climber crashed in the Tour de Suisse and was forced to drop out. Nevertheless, he has made it to the Grande Boucle and is looking to take a win despite starting with a setback.

The Cofidis rider, in statements to diario AS, explained that there were doubts in the team about whether he could reach the TDF, but that he was feeling better and that they ended up deciding to participate knowing that in the first stages he would not be at his best:

"Two days after the fall it didn't even bother me, but after that I went to the physio. They saw that it was broken. I told the team and doubts began to arise as to whether I could race. We decided to take it easy, going out on the bike without forcing and testing. As it didn't bother me, we decided to race, knowing that in these first stages I wouldn't be at 100%".

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He assures that he is participating in the race because he does not feel pain, otherwise he would not have thought of participating in the most important race in the world:

"It doesn't hurt at all. The doubts were because he could not train well, but the first day I entered the breakaway, the legs are going well and I hope to be able to respond with what comes. If I had pain or discomfort I would not come to the Tour, it is clear. And with an injury of this type there is nothing else to do but wait, that it loosens up and does not hurt."

He tells of a past experience a decade ago with a crack in which he says he had a worse time and is clear that he will find himself in better shape as the stages go by: "In 2014, in my first Tour with Movistar, I raced with a crack in my rib from another fall, and it hurt more than now, which is a fracture. It's obvious that in the end you value everything, if it's worth it, if it's better to rest and prepare for La Vuelta, but it's the Tour, and everything that goes with it. I'll get better as the days go by."