Cycling Academy's Luis Lemus knows how to make a comeback with panache. The 24-year-old Mexican recently returned from a four-month absence from competition after breaking his leg, but he didn't waste any time throwing himself back into the thick of the action, capping off his return this weekend with his third national road race title.
Lemus added to his 2012 and 2013 titles Sunday in Mazatlán, soloing to the top of the long summit finish by more than a minute and staking a serious claim to what would be his first Olympic berth.
“It was a great sign that the leg is holding and the form is coming back,” Lemus told Cyclingnews Tuesday after returning home from the race. "After two years of not having [the national champion's jersey], you want it more. You know the meaning of it.”
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The view from the top of the nationals podium looks good, but Lemus' journey there has been anything but serene.
After riding with US teams Jelly Belly and Airgas-Safeway since 2012, Lemus moved to the Israeli Cycling Academy team in the off-season. The first-ever Israeli pro team has a solidly international roster, and Lemus was looking forward to representing Mexico in races around the world. But that goal came crashing down – literally – in Lemus' first trace of the season, the G.P. Costa degli Etruschi in Italy.
A hard fall left Lemus in the hospital with a broken rib and a broken leg. The fracture to the neck of his left femur just below the connection with the hip was going to require months of healing before he could race again, and Lemus knew he was in for a long haul. Cycling Academy enlisted the help of team friend and former pro Paolo Bettini to look in on Lemus while he was in the hospital, trying to keep his spirits high and tracking his medical care.
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