While BMC gears up for their assault on Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, two members of the red and black team are doing their best to get back on their bikes as quickly as possible. Both Karsten Kroon and Brent Bookwalter recently suffered collarbone breaks and are in varying states of recovery at the moment.
Bookwalter's occurred on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya, while Kroon's occurred with 87 kilometers remaining in Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen.
The 35 year old's break was slightly complicated by a metal plate already in place in the affected shoulder from a crash ten years ago. Team chief medical officer, Dr. Max Testa, decided not to have Kroon's clavicle operated on.
"We'll take another x-ray in the next 7-10 days and based on that, we can let him train outside on smooth, flat roads. If everything goes well, it would be nice to have him back to full training in four weeks."
The 2009 Amstel Gold Race runner-up isn't too keen on the idea of waiting four long weeks to get back to normal training though - he's looking to return to racing for Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which is only 18 days away.
"The pressure I will put on the fracture with riding my bike is the good pressure, since it is pressed together. Pain will be the limiting factor. It might be possible to start in Liege, but that will only be to show how tough I am and to help the team."
Across the Atlantic Ocean, back in the US, Bookwalter is recovering from surgery last Wednesday on his broken left collarbone, which BMC Racing Team's, Dr. Eric Heiden, said went well.
If the healing process continues in its current manner, Bookwalter hopes to be back on his bike in two weeks. The young American talent isn't keen to rush things too much though. He's well aware of the healing process, as it was only a few years ago now when the Athens, Georgia resident broke his leg in April, 2007 at the Triptych Mont Chateaux. The injury itself wasn't a terrible one, but the first surgery was unsuccessful, and a second one followed three months later. By the time the BMC rider got going again, he hadn't walked in almost half a year.
It seems that the painful lessons learned from that injury four years ago still remain with Bookwalter.
"I've learned the importance of being patient with the recovery process and doing it right the first time. So I'll be aiming to find that balance between giving my body the time it needs and nudging it along to be back to a good level as soon as possible. I can't say enough about how amazingly supportive the team has been through all this."