Luke Rowe ends season early with wrist fracture

Team Sky's Luke Rowe will have to close his season early again due to a fracture, this time fracturing a wrist bone during the European Championships on August 12.

The incident is not as serious as last year, when the Welshman smashed bones in his right leg during his brother's stag party.

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The fracture, just spotted, ends his season early after helping Geraint Thomas win the Tour de France. It will leave will leave him in a plaster for six to eight weeks and force him to miss the GP Québec and Montréal.

"I got the injury back at the Euros going into the last lap. It was just a racing incident really – it wasn't anyone's fault," Rowe said in a press release.

"I clipped my right hand on a barrier on a right-hand bend. I got a small cut on my hand, and at the time it was quite sore, but I just got on with it.

"I did a Roubaix recon on the Tuesday before Deutschland Tour and then throughout that race, and certainly in the last few days, I was in quite a bit of pain. I was trying to tape the wrist but every time I hit a pothole or speed bump it was getting painful, so that's when I thought I better get a scan.

"All I had left on my race programme was Canada so there's no chance I'll be able to race there which is a shame. I'm going to be in a plaster cast for six to eight weeks to give myself the best chance for it to heal."

The Canadian races were scheduled for September 7 and 9. Rowe's last race was the Deutschland Tour, August 23 to 26.

Rowe raced to simply make the Tour de France in July. The 28-year-old broke his leg, his right fibula and tibia, while jumping into a river last summer after helping Chris Froome win Tour de France. He only returned to competition at the Abu Dhabi Tour in February this 2018 season, that was already a success since doctors said he could be out 12 months.

Back in action, he helped Sky steam roll through the Classics and win the time trial in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Coming full circle, he was selected in the eight-man squad for the Tour de France, helping Wales win its first Tour title in the race's history. It had been a "ridiculous" comeback.

"I've had a season which on paper I should never have been able to have. To be able to ride the Tour de France was probably the highlight. To go there and probably be the best I've ever been at the Tour was incredible. Even prior to that, to be at the Classics was special. Although I didn't pull off a result, to be there and be at a decent level was nice," Rowe said.

"In a situation like this you've just got to take the positives. It's just a broken wrist as opposed to 12 months ago and wondering whether I'd ever race a bike again.

"Now I'm back home in Cardiff and my wife is three weeks away from her due date for our baby. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it."