Armstrong – “I’m still at a loss as to what happened”

Posted on 26. May, 2012 by lyne in race

Arm in a sling, straight out of surgery for a mid-shaft clavicle fracture, Kristin Armstrong (Exergy Twenty12) paid a visit to watch the finish of stage 1 of the Exergy Tour. The message was clear.  Armstrong was there to support the race, her team and to let the world know that she is still determined to race at the Olympic Games and will not let a pesky broken collarbone stand in her way.

In pain, Kristin Armstrong (Exergy TWENTY12) drives to the finish

“I definitely feel a lot better now that I have a screw in my clavicle. I had a clean break all the way through, it was overlapped by two inches because when I got back into the time trial position, it closed that shoulder up. So that was a little bit of discomfort last night but I feel pretty good right now.” Armstrong said.

The Olympic Gold TT medalist was on her way to another win in the prologue on Thursday night, setting the fastest split time mid-way through the short course when she crashed violently on a turn.

“I was a little bit confused.” she said of the crash. “When I hit the ground, I felt like I was going to turn over on my back, I was clipped in and stopped and I couldn’t push up with my left arm and I had people watching me, not knowing what to do and all I wanted was help up.”

She unclipped, got back in her aero position and drove to the line to finish in 13th place. The Boise resident knew that corner very well and cannot explained what happened. “I had practiced that turn around several times, I watched the video a dozen times and I’m still at a lost as to what happened, it was a very odd, odd crash.”

Canadian TT champion Clara Hughes (Specialized-lululemon) also crashed on the same corner during her pre-ride and also could not explain what caused her to go down.

I did take some risks last night. You have to take risks in these races to win. If I went back to it tomorrow, not broken, I wouldn’t change anything of how I raced.

Armstrong plans to get back on the trainer in a couple of days. As for the Olympic Games, she told KTVB that she felt positive leading into London.

Kristin Armstrong (Exergy Twenty12) chats with Ina Teutenberg (Specialized-lululemon)

Tags: exergy tour, exergy twenty12, kristin armstrong