“They certainly don’t like to be watching from the sidelines” - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL DS Matt Winston on Oscar Onley and Max Poole’s recovery from injury

After a strong start to the season for Oscar Onley and Max Poole, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s young British duo are now both out injured, Onley suffered his third broken collarbone in eight months in a crash at the Amstel Gold Race and Poole suffered a fractured elbow after he crashed on the penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Speaking to Cyclingnews at the Tour of the Alps, the team’s sports director Matt Winston commented on how both riders are recovering, as he said “they’re both recovering, we’re in good contact with them. Both are disappointed they’re missing more of the season. They certainly don’t like to be watching from the sidelines but we’re confident that we can make a good plan for them both and hopefully they’ll both have a really good second part of the year”.

Poole was set to make his Giro d’Italia debut next month, but his participation has now been put in jeopardy as a result of his injuries, as Winston said “he’s still recovering. Obviously, the final week is key in the Giro and it is still open for discussion at the moment whether that last spot will be Max or someone else”.

On the unfortunate nature of both riders’ crashes, Winston went on to say “It’s just a bit of bad luck, to be honest, Max’s crash in Tirreno was just a pure one in one hundred chance. He hit a pothole and it was a big crash, a lot of guys came down on a straight road. There’s not really anything you can do there. Oscar’s crash on Sunday is just one of those scenarios, wrong place, wrong time. Not his fault but he’s caught up in it and unfortunately the collarbone broke”.