Kloeden to race on despite back injury

AURILLAC, France, July 11 - German Andreas Kloeden will start Tuesday’s 10th stage of the Tour de France hoping a back injury sustained in a crash on Sunday will heal on the two flat stages before the race enters the Pyrenees, his Radioshack team said on Monday.

Kloeden, twice a Tour runner-up, was caught up in a crash that forced Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov and Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck out of the Tour on Sunday’s ninth stage but he managed to get back on his bike to finish in the main bunch.
“He went for a ride for one hour 15 minutes this morning. He is not feeling better than yesterday, but not worse,” Radioshack press officer Philippe Maertens said as the Tour peloton enjoyed the first rest day of the three-week race.
“He struggles to get on and to get off his bike, and he also hurts when he has to tackle a climb. He will be at the start tomorrow. There are two relatively easy stages to come so we hope it will heal then. He will also be worked on by our team physios.”