Liam Phillips and Kyle Evans injured at Indoor BMX Saint-Etienne Loire

Liam Phillips and Kyle Evans injured at Indoor BMX Saint-Etienne Loire

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British Cycling Olympic BMX coach Grant White has confirmed the extent of the injuries sustained by Great Britain riders Liam Phillips and Kyle Evans at the BMX Saint-Etienne Loire.

Beijing and London Olympian Phillips, 23, dislocated four metacarpals in Saturday’s final in France, whilst Olympic Academy Programme rider Evans suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist.

White expects Phillips to be off the bike for four to six weeks with Evans’ comeback time more difficult to judge due to the nature of the injury. Both have undergone surgery on Wednesday.

BMX world time-trial silver medallist Phillips collided with Frenchman Joris Daudet at the bottom of the start ramp on Saturday evening followed on Sunday by Evans going over his handlebars on a rhythm section of the course.

“Liam dislocated four of his metacarpals at the wrist so had to be put under general anaesthetic that night,” White said.

“They put them back into place and there are quite a number of fractures at the end of the bones where they fit into the sockets. He’s having more surgery on Wednesday in which they wire them into place to stabilise them. They’ll be like that for the next four to six weeks and then we’ll go again.

“He had won every race up until the final on Saturday night which was the big trophy race. He came together with Jaris Daudet, the current world number two and world champion in 2011, they came together and both came off.

White added that Phillips will be able to continue to train in some capacity, with work away from the track planned - similar to when he broke his collarbone at the UCI BMX World Championships in May.

“It’s not too dissimilar from when he broke his collarbone at the worlds when we had to work around it and it constantly changes over the next few weeks, he’ll be off the bike for at least four to six weeks. Some work on the stationary bike will be coming up,” White explained.

Evans was knocked out of Saturday’s competition at the semi-final stage before his accident when leading his quarter-final in Sunday’s contest.

“Kyle rode amazingly all weekend and was very, very strong,” White enthused. “All of the training is definitely paying off, he was one of a handful of our guys who did really well.

“On Sunday he was out front most of the day, was winning his quarter-final then made an error down the third straight which was a technical section, clipped his front wheel and went over the handlebars.

“We thought he was OK but he had a lump on Sunday night, we travelled back on the Monday and we were still concerned about it. We took him to see the surgeon and he had an x-ray which confirmed he had a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist. He is having surgery on Wednesday to screw that back together.

“It can be tricky it can take a long time to heal. It could be four to six weeks or it could be longer. We’ll see how the surgery goes and go from there.”

Ten Great Britain riders travelled to France for the event with Shanaze Reade winning both Saturday and Sunday’s competition in the women’s category. A full report can be read here.