Banged and bruised, Dombrowski and Boswell heading to Colorado
After abandoning Burgos tour Wednesday with injuries, there's no stopping American neo-pros from racing on home roads
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BURGOS, Spain (VN) — Despite licking some wounds after crashing out of Wednesday’s opener at the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain, there’s no stopping Sky’s freshman duo of Ian Boswell and Joe Dombrowski from racing on home roads later this month in Colorado.
The Sky teammates both crashed hard midway through Wednesday’s first stage, with each punching a ticket to a local hospital. Luckily, nothing’s broken, and they’re U.S.-bound on Friday to be ready for the USA Pro Challenge.
“Nothing’s broken, but we destroyed four bikes,” Dombrowski told VeloNews. “We started riding at the front [on Wednesday], and Christian [Knees] said he touched a wheel, and of the eight of us here, five of us crashed. Luckily, nothing is broken.”
There were doubts, however. Dombrowski thought he might have fractured his tibia, while Boswell was worried about some cracked ribs.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Boswell told VeloNews. “I was carrying water bottles in my jersey and I was right behind Christian, so I just flew right over him and landed on my back. We’re both a little sore today.”
In all, five of eight Sky riders in the Burgos tour crashed Wednesday. Dozens of other riders went down as the entire peloton collapsed into a tangle of bikes and bodies.
Dombrowski was too banged up to continue, while Boswell and Knees tried in vain to carry on. Boswell said his rear derailleur was also broken in the pileup, forcing him to wait more than 10 minutes before he could swap out his bike.
“I stood there for a long time, because there were so many bikes and bodies everywhere,” Boswell said. “There was no way we were going to catch back on. We tried, but Christian was pretty bad, and we stopped in the feedzone.”
Both of the young Americans later visited a local hospital, but X-rays came back negative. With no serious injuries, the Colorado tour is their next major goal.
“I’ve been in Europe since December, so I am looking forward to racing in Colorado,” Boswell said. “It will be interesting to see how we can do after racing over here all year. I am a little banged up, but crashing is part of racing.”
On Thursday, the pair was tooling around Bilbao, catching a few sights while recovering from the bangs and bruises from their crash, waiting to catch a flight back to the United States on Friday.
For Dombrowski, who visited home in April, it’s also his first race on American roads since joining Sky.
“I will be in Boulder for a week before heading to Aspen,” he said. “It’s nothing serious. I’ll take a couple of days off the bike, but we’ll both be fine. We’re all set for Colorado.”
After a yearlong racing apprenticeship in Europe, both are keen to show off what they’ve learned in front of U.S. audiences.
The young pair will be joined by Tour de France champion Chris Froome and Richie Porte as part of Sky’s new push into the U.S. market.