“Yes, I’m injured. I had a bad crash in Roubaix and had to come back home. I crash into a pole. Hit my psoas and my upper leg real hard. I will be back for the Tour of Picardie and Mayenne and Tour de Suisse.”
The 2014 Tour of Picardie takes place May 16-18 in France, while the Boucles de la Mayenne is from June 5-8. The Tour de Suisse will take place June 14-22.
According to Wikipedia, the psoas major is a long fusiform muscle located on the side of the lumbar region of the vertebral column and brim of the lesser pelvis. Duchesne did not mention any broken bones.
His recovery seems to be coming along; over the weekend, Duchesne tweeted that: “I was able to be back on the bike today, without so much pain!!! I will be back on shape real soon!”
As reported earlier, Duchesne has essentially replaced now-retired Quebec rider, David Veilleux, on the French-based Europcar squad for the 2014 season. Duchesne rode for the Bontrager Cycling Team in 2013 and distinguished himself by winning the U23 Canadian Road Championships in both 2012 and 2013.
At the inaugural Tour of Alberta this year he raced with Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, in the winning break on Stage 4 and finished fifth while Evans took the stage victory. At the Grands Prix Cyclistes in Quebec City and Montreal he placed 84th and 90th respectively, and at the 2013 UCI U23 Road Worlds in Italy, Duchesne ranked 46th.
Meanwhile, Facebook postings suggest that another Quebec rider, Félix Côté Bouvette (Team Hague Cotentin), took a bad spill lately. A posted photo shows him with impressive injuries to his face and arms, but there was no explanatory text.
Pedal wishes both cyclists a speedy recovery / prompt rétablissement!