Kevin Livingston, one of the United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team’s top climbers crashed on Friday in the final road stage of the Tour of the Basque Country in Spain, suffering a double fracture of his right collarbone. The injury will keep Livingston out of competition until sometime in May.


“I’m obviously disappointed, but I’m not going to hang up the shoes,” Livingston said from his home in Austin, TX. “Now I have something to prove, that I can come back. I plan on being even stronger now. Now I have a point, something to shoot for.

“From a team standpoint, I’m only going to miss the next four races I was scheduled for – Fleche Wallonne (today), Liege-Bastogne-Liege (Sunday), Amstel Gold and Gippingen. Then I was going to head home in the beginning of May for a break, so now instead of resting at home, I will start training. There is never good timing for this, but the whole Tour (de France) plan will fall into place after the healing process.”

Livingston was part of a breakaway in the 105 kilometer morning road stage from Santesteban to Azkoitia on the final day of the race when approximately 15-20 kilometers from the finish, he crashed heavily while descending, breaking his helmet.

“There was some gravel on the road, it was shaded and a little wet in this turn,” Livingston said. “It was a fast turn, I was probably going at least 25-30 miles an hour, and landed on my elbow and right shoulder. My hands were in the drops, so the elbow and shoulder took the impact. I knew something was wrong pretty quickly.”

“This will not compromise his participation for the Tour de France,” USPS team director sportif Johan Bruyneel said. “For sure it would have been better if it did not happen, but it is better to have happened now than at the end of May or beginning of June. Then, it would have been complicated. If the healing process goes like we want it to, there should not be any problems.”
Bruyneel anticipates Livingston will re-join the team for the Midi Libre stage race in France, set to begin on May 16.