Julian Alaphilippe resumes light training as collapsed lung is ‘completely healed’

Julian Alaphilippe resumes light training as collapsed lung is 'completely healed'

Julian Alaphilippe is able to return to light training after a further medical examination revealed the collapsed lung he suffered in his crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège is fully healed.

Alaphilippe was carted away from the Belgian one-day race in an ambulance with multiple serious injuries, including a fractured scapula and the aforementioned pneumothorax, following a horrible fall in a mass pile-up.

The Frenchman will now get back on his indoor bike and is able to train on rollers, but his return to racing is still undetermined.

“His condition will continue to be monitored before any further decisions and a program for his return to racing is decided on,” Quick-Step AlphaVinyl said in a statement.

Previously, the 29-year-old had said that further testing would decide the rest of his season, and while these latest examinations are in no way confirmation he’ll be able to line up at the Tour de France on July 1st, it’s nevertheless a step in the right direction.

The green light to get back on the bike will be music to the ears of Alaphilippe, who is restless even in bike races, and was not allowed to move for the three weeks following the crash.

Team boss Patrick Lefevere had previously estimated that Alaphilippe would hopefully make it back onto his bike by mid-May, and now his rider has a six-week deadline to rehabilitate his other injuries if he wants to make it to the Grand Départ in Copenhagen.

Read More