Camille Balanche Breaks Collarbone in Mont-Sainte-Anne Crash

 Gutted for her anyway, overall apart. She's such a great and NICE athlet/person... Bon courage Camille... et désolé...

 @fabwizard: that's not a thing.

 @fabwizard: Not enough points to make it worth it, I'd say.

 It shouldn’t be. But it is very common in motogp. And it has huge long term health consequences if you injure it again while healing. Marc Marquez Is recovering from his 4th humerus operation after it got infected after a crash after surgery post from another crash. His arm was becoming none functional. Another rider this year got an infection during a race weekend a few days after wrist surgery , from a crash the weekend before. @bonkmasterflex:

 From another site:

We've heard Elite Women's series leader, Camille Balanche, is out for the season broken collarbone after a crash in practice, Loic separated his shoulder and Loris had a big off as well. We wish them all the best.

Flat tires were a common occurrence today as riders pushed the pace during timed runs. Just heard that Amaury had a flat during his 4th place timed run.

 @gcrider: As you point out, this has happened in MotoGP - Lorenzo, Rossi and others also come to mind - but the stresses, bumps, twists and hits are very different in MTB DH.
MSA is a fast course, and if the plate came loose during a run, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Camille has the rest of her life to live.

 @fabwizard: pretty sure her surgeon would not okay with that

 Great points. Having almost crashed when doing a very small jump on a smooth track while riding with a broken clavicle ( broke it night before flying to Rotorua for a week.) definitely not recommend @tigerfish50:

 So shitty for Cami! She’s been the best story in DH. Class act too! Heal up soon, where gonna miss ya.

 @fabwizard:

As a surgeon who fixes clavicles, you're right, no doctor would recommend this... but I get your point, it just isn't reasonable when the risks so clearly outweigh the benefits.

 @fabwizard: Pretty damn bad if they're putting putting their lives on the line every run unless your stupid. This isn't the 10 years ago "be tough and ride till your broke" generation. If athletes don't give themselves time to heal after injury's they're not athletes, they're goons and goons don't last long in any sport. Camille is an Olympian and started DH later in life. If you break a major bone in your 30's and just get bolted up your basically ruining it for life if anything goes wrong in your run. Get your s-hit together.

Also, there is no concussion dilemma any more, its a god damn brain injury, stay the f home. don't be stupid

 @kiddlivid: If you don't think they put their life on the line every time they leave that start gate you are sadly mistaken.

Do you not think that one head butt to a tree could just end it? Every one of these extreme sports has a risk of death, it is just how is it managed and who is willing to risk more.

In this case I doubt she is racing for millions in sponsorship/prize money so I agree that to me the the risk is not worth the reward, I merely pointed out the option. See @ Duplex above.

 @duplex: would you say it’s entirely possible for her to be back in a month?
If that’s the case, she misses one race.
Surgical reduction saw me back on the bike in 28 days.
By the way, thanks for all you do.

 @kiddlivid: Just think about the fact that some DH races have massive features but a ride around that is much slower. The incentive is there to take a risk and save time, you are unlikely to win if you dont do the feature, but it is a major crash risk.(couple races ago there was a creek gap like this that took out many riders and easily could have died if things went really wrong). Where is the risk reward there??? Yet still people are upset about even suggesting an option to race on a plated collarbone.

 @fabwizard: reread the post,You said they put their lives on the line every run, so what's the big deal if they get plated up for a run? I understand what they do, I'm saying it would be stupid to go out at 90% or less physically and risk their life and most DH racers seem to be finally taking the time to let their body's heal instead of getting a concussion or throwing a metal plate in and trying to walk it off for points. What if they caused more damage? Are two races worth risking a longer career? No, they aren't.

 @kiddlivid: You and I both agree that we feel the risk is not worth it. But we are not a racer going for a championship. In those shoes you may make a different decision.

While the pressure to compete may be less from a sponsor point of view nowadays after an injury. You are only talking the top few racers who have contracts where they get paid if they dont ride. The rest of the racers dont have the teams to fall back on and recover. They race injured or not.

 @RobbyRideGuide:

For something as high impact as downhill mountain biking, a very aggressive return to the sport would be 8-10 weeks.

To clarify some points... plates aren't designed to substitute the strength of the native bone. These plates are low profile and meant to accommodate some small 2.7-3.5mm screws. During the surgery we try to align the bones as anatomically as possible and then compress the ends with the plates holding the bones together. The whole point is to minimize motion of the fracture site so the bones can heal in a way much different than if you were to allow it to heal without surgery.

If you return too early and there is too much strain across the fracture, it won't heal appropriately. The plate will see too much stress and start to loosen or break and now were potentially dealing with a nonhealing fracture site. Best to just allow it to fully heal, then rehabilitate, and then return so you can avoid complicated revision surgery.

 Pompon and Vali will battle it out now. Crazy. Shows why you never give up.

 @suspended-flesh: It's not over yet. Depending how fast she gets it fixed and how fast she heals, she could still come back to the last race

 @bashhard: True, but she'll get zero points for at least one race.

 @suspended-flesh: she's got big enough lead to still be able to pull it off

 @bashhard: I hope she can heal fast enough to make the last race and WC

 Yes Cami can still do it but if Pompon wins both races and Camille is out, she wins the overall. Loic is not riding that great actually - as he has said.

 More than Val di Sole?

 More than Snowshoe in the wet?

 @pisgahgnar: "...it's probably the most brutal track of the year." ~ Cathro from the start of his track preview video

 Rode Val di Sole today, confirming the track is absolutely insane to ride let alone race. More tech and fast/direct than goats gully. And wrong line choice can kill you.

 MSA is sick but for me, Champery can’t be ignored either. I can’t wait for the worlds to return there.

 @pisgahgnar: If you haven't seen it, check out the video Danny Hart posted on Youtube a month or two ago called "Roughest track I have ever rode. Val Di Sole, Black Snake!"
I'm not sure if that's the same track they run for UCI DH. The video is sick.

 I thought it was a blown tire (which killed her speed for the next drop)

 @pmhobson: more like broken rim.

 @Archimonde: Quite possibly, yeah.

 @Archimonde: I agree. I just blew a rim out and it sounded just like that. Thankful I had no crash after like Camille did. Heal up quickly Camille!

 Crankbrothers Synthesis I believe.

 I did not break anything on my bike, just wanted to try a new line but didn’t worked out @pmhobson:

 What about Deprela last year?

 Sometimes it the easy stuff that gets you! Exhibit A what happened to Remy Metallier

 @IsaacWislon82: Totally. "Let me just pause and look at this section.... aaaand I'm broken".

 @BaconBikeJoe: Argh, meant to upvote. Sometimes it's just bad luck.

 You spend enough time with either rider to be able comment on how nice they are to other riders?

 @mattyb84: just the way It looks when you watch wyn tv mate, camille is always nice towards other riders but vali holl was pretty much slacking off camilles riding and results!

 Not her best on camera moment. I read her comments coming from jealousy or envy mixed with her anger/disappointment at her own crashing. Camille has beaten her at every round except rd4.
Camille has amazing core stability. So she doesn’t need to ride like a rodeo to ride fast./fastest

@Meganstuart1: