Julian Dean broke his leg during the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya 2012
Julian Dean of Team GreenEdge crashed during the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya and was immediately taken to the hospital.
He crashed in to a parked car and broke his leg during the 210.9 chase to Aine.
It was his first come back race after recovering from the crash during the training earlier in December.
The 36-year-old broke his shoulder during the GreenEdge training camp in Australian in December last year.
Neil Stephens of Team GreenEdge noted, "We are especially distraught about this loss, from a sporting perspective, it's terrible to lose a rider to a crash”.
“From a personal perspective, we really feel for him. He has a lot of bad luck this year, and Catalunya was his first race back after a previous injury”, GreenEdge sports director Neil Stephens concluded.
The Kiwi started his professional pursuit with Team US Postal in 1999 and stayed with the team until 2001.
He also represented Team CSC-Tiscali (2002-03), Team Credit-Agricole (2004-07), Team Slipstream-Chipotle (2008-11) and penned a deal with the Australian team for the 2012 season.
Dean finished 3rd during the National Cycling Championships 2010 and also finished second during the 18th stage of the Giro d’ Italia.
He also rode the Tour de France and came close to a stage win on three occasions. Julian finished second during the 4th and the 18th stage of the Tour.
Team GreenEdge cyclist achieved the second stage of the Tour de France 2011 and finished 7th during the third stage of the French Grand Tour.
The 37-year-old signed only a one-year deal with Team GreenEdge as he was uncertain about his future beyond 2012.
While commenting on his future plans he noted, "The best case scenario I can think of is that he'll be ready to start the Tour of Spain. That might be a good starting point, but certainly the Giro and the Tour are out".
He was hoping for a busy season with the UCI World Tour debutant side, Team GreenEdge but his plans for the remaining part of the season are not certain.
The injury has raised a lot of suspicions about his future at the sport and only time will tell if Dean can recover in time to continue at the top level of the sport.
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