BMC Racing's Peter Stetina is starting to see the end of a long road to recovery after a dramatic crash during the finish of Pais Vasco's first stage on April 6 left him with broken ribs, tibia and patella. His progress report includes the removal of hardware once needed to hold his knee cap together, putting full weight on his injured right leg, and he will soon be strong enough to get back on his bike. All the signs indicate a possible return to racing before the end of the season.
"My goals are always ambitious…," Stetina said in a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday. "I have to set my goals high, so I do plan on racing this year still, maybe extremely soon, basically as soon as I can get some basic fitness.
"I know that I will be basically a shell of myself for the rest of this year but – and the BMC director team and medical team are behind this – we think if I can hop into a few races and help the guys early on, make the gruppetto in a few races, then it will set me up better going into the off season when I can really focus on left- and right-leg imbalances, regain the muscle mass that I've lost, and any lingering joint pain that may arise. I plan on being full strength by next year but I hope that you guys will see me a few times this year."
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Stetina crashed during the final 500 metres of stage 1 at the Pais Vasco, when the peloton encountered a group of unprotected and barely marked, four-foot-high steel poles sticking up from the road along the curb.
BMC Racing's team physician Dr. Max Testa confirmed that Stetina’s injuries included four fractured ribs, a minimally displaced lateral tibial plateau fracture on the right leg and a displaced complex fracture of his patella, "which exploded into multiple fragments."
Stetina underwent corrective surgery on his tibia and patella in Spain, where he remained in hospital for one week before travelling back to the US for further treatment.
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