Paddy Bevin's debut Tour de France started with a spectacular and almost race ending crash in the Dusseldorf rain, and ended with Cannondale-Drapac teammate Rigoberto Uran standing on the podium as the runner-up to Chris Froome.
"There is no arguing that is not how you want to start any race, never mind the Tour de France," Bevin told Cyclingnews.
Initially, it appeared Bevin's Tour would be in doubt due to concussion after the heavy crash into the race barricades. However, he passed all relevant tests with further investigation revealing it was his ankle and foot that took the brunt of the force.
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An ultrasound mid-way through the race revealed a break in the foot, confirmed by an x-ray in Marseille on the penultimate stage. Despite riding his first full Grand Tour on one foot, so to speak, Bevin explained the issue was localised to his ankle and foot.
"The problem was that I'd done a couple of injuries to the ankle. I sprained the ankle and broke the bone in the foot and to start with the big issue was the ankle. It swelled and bruised and all that. It was more painful but after a few days as the ankle came down the foot wasn't healing," Bevin explained to Cyclingnews. "By the time you have ridden a few days on it, what is the difference between a few days and finishing the Tour? The scan at the end was just diagnostic to find out how bad it actually was."
While some riders may find their position on the bike compromised by such an injury and their body naturally adjusting to the break, Bevin added that there was "no muscle strains elsewhere, no saddle sores or that kind of thing. In hindsight, it's pretty amazing really to ride three and half thousand kilometres with that injury and not really have anything else."
Riding for Rigo
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