BARCELONA — Tadej Pogačar’s Vuelta a España challenge ended after he clipped an object on a wide road, flew over his handlebars and suffered fractures of his collarbone and spine plus concussion, ending his 2026 season early in his first abandon in 46 stage races since fracturing his wrist at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2023. The incident framed provisional findings presented by UAE Team Emirates-XRG doctor Raaghib Fredericks at July’s Science & Cycling conference in Barcelona, where he analysed injury and illness rates at the world’s leading team across the 2019 to 2021 seasons.
Fredericks, who examined data for 30 male riders from the team’s cloud-based medical database updated weekly and compared against TrainingPeaks training data, noted an unexplained pattern: “There are significantly more crashes on the right side than on the left. We can’t explain why. We’re looking into it.” He asked: “What do we currently know about injuries and illness at WorldTour level? Very little,” adding that his work set out to add to Dr Thomas Fallon’s ‘Beyond the finish line’ research. Over the three seasons, the squad lost 1,920 racing and training days to illness and injury — around two lost days per rider each month — comprising 140 incidences of injury and 134 of illness.
About 68% of injuries occurred during racing compared with 32% in training, significant given annual workloads of 18,000 to 23,000km in training versus around 8,500km racing, meaning a rider is four times more likely to crash in a race than in training. About 80% of injuries were classified as acute, of which 88% were a consequence of a crash, including the 2019 Vuelta a España opening team time trial when a paddling pool split and brought down six riders. The most common trauma was superficial road rash, followed by bone fractures and breaks, with Fredericks revealing over 50% of riders had low bone mineral density and quite a few were actually osteoporotic, treated with bone-strengthening medication, calcium and vitamin D supplementation and weight-bearing exercise. Overuse injuries were far less common, mostly patellar and Achilles tendinopathy.
Of the 134 incidences of illness, 41% occurred during racing and 59% in training or between races. There were 11 recorded cases of COVID-19 resulting in 137 lost race days from 659 days lost to illness as a whole, reflecting the minimum 14-day isolation period plus graduated return, seen when the 2020 UAE Tour was abandoned and Fernando Gaviria contracted coronavirus. Upper respiratory tract infections accounted for 60 cases, around 45% of illnesses, while dermatological issues such as saddle sores were responsible for 18% of lost days and gastrointestinal issues for 17%. Jayco AlUla doctor Luca Pollastre said upper respiratory infections remain the biggest cause of time off the bike and that his team now use face masks, strategic room allocation and weekly doctor calls to minimise risk.
Fredericks is planning to analyse more recent data, while Fallon’s research points to mitigations including Dyneema-enhanced jerseys, neck-strengthening exercises and head-impact accelerometers feeding back to the race doctor’s car. Bike-fitter Phil Cavell, co-founder of Cyclefit in London, said overuse issues often emerge when bikes, shoes, saddles and pedals change together. With severity of crashes rising due to aggressive racing — highlighted by Liv AlUla Jayco rider Caroline Andersson suffering four brain bleeds, two facial fractures, a broken collarbone and broken pelvis in a 15-rider crash at the UCI World Championships in Montreal — Fredericks’ work suggests staying healthy remains the most significant performance gain available.