Saturday proved to be a rollercoaster ride for the Trek Factory Racing team. Only a few hours after the team's young Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven won stage 8 of La Vuelta a Espana 2015, the team was forced to announce Stuyven will abandon the race because he has fractured his left scaphoid.

 

Stuyven was one of the many riders involved in a crash which took place at high speed about fifty kilometers from the finish line - a crash that brought down Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin protected by POC), and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team).

 

"As I said immediately after the finish, I felt a pain in my wrist and it was getting more and more painful, so I requested a hospital checkup. I was already afraid that it could be the scaphoid because I know from friends who are cyclists what this type of injury feels like and where it's located. Unfortunately, the X-rays confirmed that my left scaphoid is broken. Therefore, my Vuelta ends today," Trek Bikes rider Stuyven explained to Roadcycling.com. 

 

Despite his crash injury and Vuelta exit, Stuyven, however, maintains a positive outlook "At first I was of course really disappointed, but then I realized that I really have to enjoy this moment because now is the time to enjoy my first professional win. What's yet to come, I will find out when I return home for the surgery."

 

Trek Bike team doctor Nino Daniele, who accompanied Stuyven to the hospital, made the following statement "The fracture is not dislocated, so in fact it won't be difficult to resolve it, but it goes without saying that Jasper (Stuyven) cannot ride his bike for now. First of all, it would be very painful, but additionally it's also possible that the broken bones move and we absolutely want to avoid that."

 

Jasper Stuyven will return to Belgium later today in order to undergo surgery as soon as possible in his hometown of Leuven.

 

"If everything goes well, like I hope, in a couple of weeks, he should be back on his bike and probably even sooner on the rollers while wearing his cast," Daniele explained to Roadcycling.com.