Broken dreams and bones: six cyclists who went through the pain barrier

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jul/04/tour-de-france-broken-bones

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Tyler Hamilton, 2003

The American’s fight through the 2003 Tour for fourth place overall with a v-shaped double fracture of the collarbone, “feeling every bump in the road” for two and a half weeks, remains impressive as a battle against pain, if tarnished deeply by his confession nine years on that he had been blood doping as he did so

Pascal Simon, 1983

Having taken the yellow jersey at Luchon halfway through the 1983 Tour, the Frenchman looked a shoo-in for overall victory until he fell and cracked his shoulderblade. Somehow, he kept going for another six days in the yellow jersey,pushed along on occasion by his team-mates in the Peugeot squad, and gradually losing time until he was finally forced to abandon in tears. He was never the same rider again

David Millar, 2010

Broke two ribs at the 2010 Tour yet managed to finish. “It’s the intercostals, they’re all ripped,” he said at the time. “That has put pressure on the left side of my back and I’m over-compensating on my left inner thigh and that’s all ripped now too”. I’ve lost all my left side effectively. I can’t go hard enough to go over 400 watts and my body falls to pieces above that”

Fiorenzo Magni, 1956

Not a tale from the Tour, but worth recounting: the Italian completed the 1956 Giro d’Italia in second overall with a broken collarbone, on some stages biting on an inner tube tied to his handlebars to enable him to pull on the bars with his teeth. Close to the end of the race he crashed again and broke his humerus. He considered that second place his greatest “victory”

Eddy Merckx, 1975

The greatest cyclist of all time had already lost the 1975 Tour when he was brought down early on a mountain stage, falling on his face, suffering a double fracture of the cheekbone with a bone splinter floating near his sinuses. He struggled through to complete the race in second overall, but believed that the battle through pain eventually brought his career to a premature end

Bernard Hinault 1985

The Badger fell at the stage finish in Saint Etienne in the 1985 Tour with victory seemingly assured, breaking his nose in two places. He rode on to win his fifth and last Tour in spite of two spectacular black eyes and a chest infection caused by the breathing difficulties due to blocked sinuses