Jani Brajkovic Writes Blog With Left Hand
Jani Brajkovic checks in from home, writing with only his left hand enabled, his words are short but profound.
Hello from Slovenia. Unfortunately three weeks too early :-(
Staying in bed with a broken collarbone, and no skin on the right side of the body, I decided to write a little blog, or just express my opinion, my feelings, and emotions about the Tour.
I really don’t know where to start. My head is full of sadness, anger, motivation, positive and negative thoughts. As you fans know, the Tour was my number one goal of the season. I came to France 100% motivated, in good rising condition, full of energy.
I was ready.
What happened next, you all know. Nervous stages, fighting for position all day, crashes...For me, Stage Five was the fatal one.
What happened, I really don't know. A moment before I crashed, there was severe braking in front of me. I knew there was no way out of it....Boom. I only came aware of things a few minutes later when they loaded me in the ambulance car. In the hospital they took a great care of me. I'm very thankful for that.
With a head contusion and broken clavicle, I left the hospital. Back in my hotel room, all the Team RadioShack staff and riders came to see me, expressing some nice words. A few moments later I cracked, all my hidden emotions came out. I started crying....a lot. After a while I calmed down, and realized how lucky I was. I was alive with one broken bone, and more than 6 week until Vuelta d’Espana
I started thinking positive, made a few plans throughout the night (I was in too much pain for sleeping), got home the next day and did some tests at the hospital....
I am now waiting for the pain to decrease, so I can hop on the indoor trainer and ride. It's going be a long few weeks of recovery, but the Vuelta shouldn't be endangered.
So that is about me, now my opinion on the race, crashes, stress...To clarify, it's just my opinion. I don't expect everyone to agree with me.
So why are there so many crashes? I will be short:
The First Week: Everyone is fresh and thinks he can do something great, so a lot of risky moves going on.
Higher speeds/ flatter stage: Higher chance for mistakes
Respect: We see fewer and fewer respect towards other riders in the bunch.
Parcours: It’s clear that it’s impossible to make stages on a highway and nice roads, but a little flexibility would be nice.
Wind: Probably the most important factor, especially cross winds. In those kinds of conditions it's absolutely necessary to stay in the front. Two hundred riders trying to do that = Crashes.
A combination of these factors makes chaos. What to do?
Well, this is racing and if everybody would take care about each other, that would be a Sunday family ride. But I think, we, the riders, should have more respect towards each other, not put a handlebar in every 20-centimeter gap that appears, not try to "flick" an opponent on every possible moment.
Yes it's racing, it's cruel and unfair sometimes…but it doesn't have to be cruel, dangerous all the time.
In the end, I'd like to wish every rider who crashed this weeks a speedy recovery, especially to my big friend, Chris Horner. I really hope you can continue, buddy.
I wish a crash-free Tour to the rest of you…
And to all the fans who support us, your kind words are an inspiration to me. But more so, your encouragement is the reason we do this. Without you, our sport wouldn't make sense. Thank you.
Oh, one more thing. To all media who put a photo of me bleeding, laid out on the road, half-aware, on the front page of daily news, etc…How would you feel if I was your son, your family??
JB
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