Suffering big time but not giving up

Did you suffer today?Absolutely. After undergoing X-rays it turned out that I had not broken anything but it hurt like hell. It is swollen and I didn’t get much sleep last night. I couldn’t get out of the saddle and I was practically steering my bike with only one hand. My other hand was just resting on the bars. On top of that, I wasn´t able to sit upright on my bike and this is why I´m suffering from a back pain. Our masseur will be busy tonight.”Did you use a cast for your arm?I had a special kind of a bandage and every hour went to the medical car to put ice on itWhen does the hand hurt most?It isn’t so bad on climbs but when we go downhill, it hurts a lot. And then the narrow bumpy roads are the worst.Have you thought about calling it quits?It crossed my mind before the stage when I went to sign up and found out that I can hardly move my hand. But I’m not a quitter and wanted to give it a try despite the pain. When I got dropped with 40km from the finish I hung on a group of several riders at the end of the pack and I knew we would close the gap.What is the game plan for tomorrow?If I should suffer as much as today it is hard to say whether I will finish the stage. The rest day keeps my hopes alive for my swollen hand to recede. It simply depends on how I will feel but I don’t want to give up a Grand Tour. I´m still tempted to make it to Paris.Stage 8 (Aigurande – Super-Besse Sancy, 189 km): 1st Rui Da Costa (Por/Movistar) 4:36:46, 2nd Philippe Gilbert (Bel/Omega Pharma-Lotto) +12, 3rd Cadel Evans (Aus/BMC), 4th Samuel Sánchez (Spa/Euskaltel), 5th Peter Velits (Svk/HTC-Highroad), 6th DFrues Devenyns (Bel/Quick Step) +15, … 186th Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Astana) +20:07.Overall: 1st Thor Hushovd (Nor/Garmin-Cervélo) 33:06:28, 2nd Cadel Evans +1, 3rd Fränk Schleck (Lux/Leoprad-Trek) +4, 4th Andreas Klöden (Ger/RadioShack) +10, 5th Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Leopard-Trek), 6th Andy Schleck (Lux/Leopard-Trek) +12  … 111th Roman Kreuziger +25:27.