O`Grady breaks ribs in skiing accident

Stuart O'Grady has effectively ruled out claiming a third Tour Down Under title next
month after breaking two ribs in a serious skiing accident last weekend.
But the South Australian cycling great is still determined to contest the biggest
race on the Australian calendar, which begins in Adelaide on January 16.
The accident at a team camp at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana occurred just
24 hours after O'Grady, 37, told the Team Leopard directors of his determination to
play a key role at the Tour Down Under.
"I was really happy to take on the leadership of trying to get a result for the team
instead of being the domestique in every race," O'Grady said on a teleconference
from his base in Monaco on Wednesday.
"It was going to be a nice opportunity to come down on Australian soil and actually
have a crack for a result.
"It would have been a very difficult situation anyway with it being a sprinters'
paradise, with the calibre of sprinters there it would make it extremely tough to
get anywhere near the podium.
"But just having that freedom to go down there and have a crack, I was pretty
excited about that to be honest."
Instead, O'Grady faces three tough weeks of rehabilitation, ruling him out of the
January 2-5 Bay Criterium series and the following national road championships, both
in Victoria.
It is the second successive year that O'Grady has suffered a major setback in the
lead-up to the Australian summer season.
In late 2009, he was diagnosed with pneumonia after being hospitalised following a
seizure.
"Last year I had a much bigger problem and managed to get through the race," he said.
"This year I've got absolutely no concerns about getting through the race but
obviously I'm a bit concerned about going for victory."
O'Grady was encouraged to have built up a huge fitness base after only taking a
short break before getting back into full training in early November.
"The pace is there," he said.
"I might not be in the form I would like to have been in for the Tour Down Under,
but you've just got to take it on the chin, stay positive and look forward.
"It's definitely not going to be a hindrance for the classics.
"I'll be firing on all cylinders when it counts."
O'Grady won the Tour Down Under in 1999 and 2001.