The stage 3 crash that American Christian Vande Velde suffered at May’s Giro d’Italia, which resulted in vertebra, pelvic and rib fractures, dealt a heavy blow to the Garmin-Slipstream leader’s hopes for a strong follow-up to his fourth-place finish in the 2008 Tour de France.

Barely four weeks after a crash that left was him lying in the road, certain he was not getting up, Vande Velde was at the start of the Tour de Suisse as the nine-day race set out on June 13. The 12-year pro from Lemont, Illinois rode conservatively over the first four stages in Switzerland and sat 16:22 down on overall leader Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r-La Mondiale) following the stage 4 finish in Stäfa.

On the eve of the stage 5 mountaintop finish atop the Serfaus climb, where Vande Velde conceded more than 18 minutes to stage winner Michael Albisini, the American was openly optimistic about his fitness ahead of the Tour’s July 4 start in Monaco.

“Yeah, everything's going great right now. I'm very happy, apart from the crash yesterday, how my progress is going,” he said. “And I still haven't even had four or five weeks of recovery since I broke all of my bones. Considering that, I’m very excited with how things are going.”

Vande Velde suffered a crash during Monday’s third stage – along with half of the peloton – in a rain-soaked tunnel along the route from Davos to Lumino. He remounted and later called the crash, “something (he) obviously didn't really need at this point.”

Tuesday’s stage, featuring the Category 1 climb over the cobbled summit of Gotthard Pass, was Vande Velde’s first mountain test since returning to training in early June. The American showed good form on the stage, which he called “epic,” finishing with the hard-charging peloton at 1:04. When asked about his performance under the pressure of a hard chase, he confirmed with certainty that the day went well, especially considering the fact that, in his words, “that was pretty much as much pressure as you get, today.”

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Psyching up

Vande Velde said that the most difficult part of his recovery to this point has been the mental aspect. With such a painful injury and precious little time ahead of the season’s main objective, he struggled with the uncertainty that accompanies seven broken bones.

The former super-domestique has had support of his own since his crash, however, and credited his support system with helping him through the injury.

“I have had a ton of support from all points in my life – from my team to my family and friends,” he continued, “There is no doubt that this was a rough spot and it is always nice to hear encouragement and or support from all over the place. I don't need to be reassured as much as I need to practice patience. It doesn't come easy to me.”

Goals in Switzerland

Looking forward to the balance of the Tour de Suisse, which closes with an individual time trial in Bern on Sunday June 21, Vande Velde distanced himself from team boss Jonathan Vaughters’ earlier indications of the importance of that Bern TT in determining his fitness ahead of the Tour.

“I think that may be too early for a real test, as I only started training one week before this race,” he said. “I am more than happy that I kept myself fit enough to start this race in the first place and that my body is getting better everyday, even with a crash on stage 3.”

The American hopes practice patience in the coming days, building his form over the remainder of the week while keeping his skin off the road and avoiding overextending himself.

Further recovery and then the Tour

As for the three-week stage race in France that starts in just over two weeks, Vande Velde is keeping his fingers crossed that his GC hopes did not crash out on the Giro’s third stage. “I'm going to wait and see how it goes during the Tour de France,” he said. “Even (at) the Tour, I have six or seven days before the first mountain stage comes.”

Vande Velde is not alone in his Garmin-Slipstream squad in his recovery from major injuries. Probable Tour riders David Millar (collarbone) and Tyler Farrar (shoulder), as well as Blake Caldwell (femur) and Lucas Euser (knee) have all suffered serious injuries in 2009. However, according to Vaughters, the core Tour de France squad is on the mend and peaking ahead of the July start.

This was evident over the last 10 days, as Millar nearly had a time trial victory and was climbing with the leaders at the Dauphiné Libéré, Farrar won the prologue and the overall at the Delta Tour of Zeeland and Tim Duggan narrowly missed a stage win on the last day of the Dauphiné.

Vande Velde watched his teammates fire off brilliant performances in the two build-up races ahead of the Tour with great optimism. “It’s great to see. I think that when there is success in a team it becomes contagious,” he said. “The guys at home see their teammates doing well at races and then in turn train harder because they want to be a part of it.”

No stranger to injury and recovery, Vande Velde said, “I think that it also works in the other way too, so it is great to see the guys coming back after hardships, as it is always the hardest but the most rewarding.”

Between the finale of the Swiss tour and the start of le Grande Boucle on July 4, Vande Velde’s final preparations include three activities.

“Recover, make sure my daughter’s second birthday goes okay and go to the Tour.”