Whoa. That doesn’t sound promising. At this point, every second counts in his prep, so if this costs him a week of further recovery, he’s skrewwwwed.

Those 20 points for Levi aren’t looking so expensive anymore.

Interesting spin from Bruyneel on this, then, in his early reports, when he called it an “uncomplicated fracture.” I’d think it would be pretty hard to miss a four-part fracture.

Six weeks. Interesting to see if he makes the Giro start. Certainly, this puts an end to his GC hopes, if he had them.

Levi is slated to start the Giro, but is slated to take it seriously? Or just get in his miles? This is a little better than being yanked off the beach, but he might want to ramp it up a bit.

So says I, the VDS buyer of the little dwarf.

and they speed up healing, a lot, because bones are aligned and stabilized right from the get go.

Having had a multiple upper arm fracture last May, (among other breaks), and opting out of surgery for plates and screws, (Gawd knows why I did THAT), I can tell you that letting the bones set themselves over a period of weeks is a much slower and way more painful process. Every move you make, every breath you take, you FEEL it. He is better off with the plates/screws and will be back on the bike sooner.

H/T Sting; Police

Though I have gotten religion on LA, I still hate to see this happen. I was looking forward to him ripping it up soon, maybe even a stage win.

Lance Armstrong’s Clavicle In Four Pieces / Succesful Surgery

March 25, 2009 – Austin, TX – Lance Armstrong had successful surgery today to repair what doctors originally thought was a "simple" fracture of his clavicle (more commonly referred to as the collarbone). "This was not correct," said Dr. Doug Elenz, an Austin orthopedic surgeon who frequently operates on athletes. "It was not in two, but four pieces." Dr. Elenz, along with another surgeon and physician’s assistant, used a five inch stainless steel plate with 12 screws to repair Armstrong’s fracture. He noted that this was more than they would normally use, but necessary based on the extent of the fracture.

Armstrong would not spend the night in the hospital but soon be taken to his home here in Austin to recuperate. In terms of rehabilitation, the doctor wants Armstrong to take it easy for a week to let the wound heal, then start back into aerobic training using some form of stationary exercise bike so as not use his upper extremities, and then they’d see about getting back on the road.

As expected, many of the questions revolved around when Armstrong would be able to be back on the bike training, if not racing. "Normally we see 8-12 weeks for something like this to heal completely," Dr. Elenz said, stressing the word "completely". He went on to say that it would be a day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month progression as they first looked for radiographic union (evidence of bone growth), a stable fracture with no plate movement, increased arm motion and fluidity, and Armstrong’s own pain factor. While Dr. Elenz would not give a firm date on when he expected Armstrong to return to racing, he said that it will heal and he needs to give it time so he can get back to racing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_sp_ot/cyc_armstrong_surgery_8

That has to be a first for this site. I linked to a Strib story once but that’s about it.

Yesterday he was mentioned in the sports news on my local radio morning show (the only non hockey news). Specifically that he broke his collarbone in a bicycle race in Spain, but that his coach believes he will still be able to contest his 8th tour de france victory in July.

Then this morning he is mentioned in the celebrity gossip section of the same show. Specifically, they were mocking him for twittering throughout his entire surgery.