Cycling: Henderson raced at Melbourne Games with fractured hip

New Zealand cyclist Greg Henderson competed at last month's Melbourne Commonwealth Games with a fractured hip.

Henderson now faces at least a month on the sidelines after it was confirmed that the injury, received in a race fall just before the Games, was in fact a femoral head fracture.

Attempts to contact Henderson at his United States base in Colorado yesterday were unsuccessful but New Zealand track cycling coach Terry Gyde confirmed, from France, the severity of the injury.

The Dunedin cyclist came to grief while competing for his Health Net-maxxis team in the McLane Pacific Downtown Criterium in the United States on March 4.

Henderson was badly grazed and bruised but straight after the event he had to travel directly to Launceston, Tasmania, to join the New Zealand team ahead of the Games.

Gyde said Henderson complained on his arrival of being sore.

"We had his hip x-rayed but it didn't show anything. It was just because the swelling was so bad."

A scan last week finally uncovered the fracture.

Specialists have told the cyclist to stay off his bike for at least a month.

Henderson had a disappointing time in Melbourne, failing to add to his five medals from previous Games. Team tactics from Great Britain riders competing for their individual countries shut Henderson out of medal contention in the points race and scratch race. He punctured in the road race, costing him two minutes, and could finish only sixth.

Gyde said the injury must have had some impact on Henderson's performance in Melbourne.

"He's a tough bugger but he was in a lot of discomfort and he just wasn't himself.

"The races on the track didn't go his way anyway, but there's no doubt it had an impact in the road race because he just wasn't comfortable."

Gyde said the injury was all the more frustrating as Bike New Zealand had asked that Henderson be released from his US team ahead of the McLane criterium.

"We had been hoping for a 10-day lead-in for the team and then Greg was told by his team he had to ride the McLane. None of us were happy because we had already created our plan leading in to Melbourne."

The injury has also denied Henderson the chance to defend his sprint jersey in this year's Tour of Georgia, which starts today.

His Health Net-maxxis teammate Hayden Roulston, a fellow New Zealander, is also out of the event, with a virus which struck in Melbourne.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES