Sorry, can't resist.

Geraint Thomas has ridden his entire pro career without a spleen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraint_Thomas Ballan will recover and ride again.

The way people are carrying on it's as if the guy was killed.

Accidents are terrible, no doubt. But plenty of guys have been banged up like this over the course of the year; no need for the obituaries

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Spot on . Its all a bit over the top.
KWalker, you sure they were antibiotics and can you get me some

If he has a desire to come back it will happen. It's not impossible to play at an elite level without a kidney.
Sean Elliott came back from dual kidney failure and a transplant from his brother to play in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs

Well it is the broken Femur and Spleen removal that II think are the most likely career ending. Although many pros have returned after breaking a femur, it depends where it was broken and how significant the break actually is. He could recover from it, he could have trouble walking again - you never know with that kind of injury.

The Spleen removal is also going to be very difficult. His ability to fight off infections will drastically take a hit. When he trains hard his immune system is already weakened, and add the loss of a spleen to the equation and suddenly he could be sick too often to be competitive.


I hope he can return, he seems like a really great person and rider.

more than femur and spleen (Wegelius was a rider without it)
he'd fear Mantova...
wishing him good luck for the physical recovery

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my website: http://massarob.info
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Maybe he is but he's yet another rider with a cloudy past.

Really sad to hear about Ballan, hope he does well. As a physician, I should clarify that he probably won't need DAILY antibiotics due to a splenectomy, just vaccinations against encapsulated organisms.

As others have mentioned, several pro athletes have recovered from spleen/kidney pathology.

Yes it's so unfortunate to hear about Ballan, may he rest in peace...he was such a happy soul too, loved by many...

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"It never gets easier, you just go faster..." - Greg Lemond

"Because technology alone is a poor substitute for experience." - Richard Sachs

#troll?

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Slam your stem.

Troll?

Just reiterating what Tinea said previously...

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"It never gets easier, you just go faster..." - Greg Lemond

"Because technology alone is a poor substitute for experience." - Richard Sachs

10/10. I thought it was pretty funny.

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Slam your stem.

Anyhoooooooo, how 'bout that Sven Nys? Have you ever seen the like?! Smartest rider by a long shot...

we don't talk about cross NEARLY enough in this thread fantastic finish