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Primoz Roglic pictured above after another hectic day on the Tour De France. On the first day we saw two huge accidents and then today there were some eye watering moments. Unfortunately on a bicycle if you fall off the clothing offers no protection. Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan came off whilst doing over 80 kmph and had me looking the other way as road rash or grass burns are the worst type of injury in my mind.
I still have nightmares (not really) about one rugby season where I was injured in our first game of the season. It wasn't regarded as an injury though as how do you tell your team mates you have a bad roasty and are sitting out a few games. If you break a leg or tear a muscle that is a good enough reason, but not a grass burn.
In those days we were getting paid which helped with the bills but it didn't take the pain away. I tried everything from gauze and bandage to pouring 100% proof alcohol over it. The problem was where it was being on my hip it was a good centimeter deep and was the size of a golf ball. Every time you played the burn would just open up again and this lasted nearly 6 months. I would have rather broken a bone than go through that again as at least bones heal quicker.
The same with these guys on the Tour De France as we are only on day 4 with another 17 days of cycling to go. Roglic even though he is missing half his skin on one side of his body will be out racing again tomorrow and the next day until the end. The teams have their own doctors thankfully and are specialists in dealing with these types of road rashes.
Medicine and technology have improved since my playing days with things like a protective layer of plastic skin. These guys will need to bend and still be flexible so drying out the grazes is not an option as they will keep it moist healing it that way. Basically the opposite of what I was doing and why I am no doctor.
These cyclists area tough breed of sportsmen and put many other sports to shame with the injuries these guys sustain. Could you imagine a footballer being told he has to play again the next day with injuries like this? They play a contact sport, but it isn't really and are the biggest pussies under the sun. I admire what these cyclists have to go through and are proper athletes even though they don't look like much except skin and bones.
