Rebecca Henderson (Orbea Factory) might have simply taken a twelfth consecutive elite cross-country title in a row on Sunday on the GWM Mountain Bike National Championships, however it was ache reasonably than pleasure writ all throughout her face as she slumped to the bottom clutching her shoulder instantly after overcoming Isabella Flint (Cervélo Australia Off-Road) within the dash that determined the tight battle.
The 33-year-old was feeling the impression of a crash within the opening lap of the race and after medical checks the rationale for her pained expression was crystal clear – it turned out that she had raced to victory within the brutal moist and windy circumstances with a fractured shoulder.
“In a nutshell I’ve fractured this shoulder however it’s fairly excellent news as a result of the ligaments and all the things is all good so no surgical procedure is required in order that’s a extremely good final result,” mentioned Henderson in a medical update Instagram post on Wednesday.
“The thumb has a attainable small fracture – it is laborious for them to say sure or no which I suppose is an efficient final result in itself – and the scaphoid is ok so no surgical procedure. It’s simply nonetheless actually sore and I can’t use it so I suppose I’ll get better in good time.”
The accidents, nonetheless, imply that Henderson should wait some time earlier than launching into the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, set to get underway in Brazil on April 12-14, and also will miss out on the precious factors on supply on the Oceania Championships this weekend.
“No Brazil is a large hit for me I made some large commitments to myself late final 12 months that I used to be going to go all in for Brazil,” mentioned Henderson.
The rider from Canberra spent seven years with Primaflor Mondraker however after the squad closed she has shifted to Orbea Factory Racing for 2025 and Brazil was set to be her first World Cup with the brand new staff. Henderson had hoped it is perhaps the beginning of an upswing, with the rider who had spent years within the prime few spots of the XCO world rankings having completed tenth within the UCI XCO World Cup Rankings in 2024.
“I simply needed to be again at my greatest, to see what was attainable,” mentioned Henderson. “I labored actually laborious to additionally put a special help community round me to assist me be the perfect I may presumably be.”
“There’s been a whole lot of effort behind the scenes for that and I felt like I’ve been coaching nearly as good as ever. I’ve been coaching actually laborious … and it was about time for me to be accountable to myself for the targets I had set in order that’s actually laborious to have that ripped away, however it’s what it’s,” mentioned the rider, concluding that she would now as an alternative re-assess, change the targets and proceed working.
