Julian Dean’s plans for a strong start to the 2012 season has been affected by a bad crash in training over the weekend, with the New Zealand rider breaking his shoulder blade in a fall.
The Garmin-Cervélo rider, who is in the process of transferring across to the GreenEdge team, was training with the latter squad at its camp inThredbo when the accident happened. According to AAP, a team spokesman said that the crash would rule him off the bike for up to a fortnight, although Dean himself hopes to return more quickly than that.
No surgery is necessary for the injury, with time being sufficient to heal it. However the disruption to the 36 year old’s training will hamper his form somewhat.
It is not clear if he was due to be part of the squad in the WorldTour season-opening Santos Tour Down Under but, if so, this may affect his chances of making selection.
GreenEdge should find out soon if it will be a UCI ProTeam in 2012. While it has the necessary standard of rider, it has twice missed out on approval. It and the RadioShack Nissan team remain to be confirmed. According to general manager Shayne Bannan, the delay is simply down to paperwork for a new team, and he is confident that the requirements will be met.
Dean turned professional in 1999 with the US Postal Service team, and has raced since then with Team CSC, Crédit Agricole and Garmin-Cervélo. He has settled into a role as a strong leadout rider, but also has good personal results to his credit in recent years, including second and third on sages of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, and victory in the team time trial in both races.