New Zealand Commonwealth Games rider Ally Wollaston has all but been ruled out of the Commonwealth Games after injuring her wrist in the Tour de France Femmes.
The 21-year-old former world junior track champion from the AG Insurance team was injured in a crash on the second stage of the Tour on Monday (Tuesday NZ time).
Wollaston was only meant to ride the first three stages before leaving for the Commonwealth Games, in which she was set to ride on the track and the road at Birmingham 2022.
While the New Zealand Olympic Committee hasn’t officially ruled her out, it confirmed in a press release she was undergoing further medical evaluation and was “unlikely” to compete.
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Wollaston was due to hit the track at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark on Friday, before competing on the road on the final day of competition.
Cycling New Zealand High performance director Amy Taylor said they were currently working through implications for the road and track teams.
Alex Whitehead/SWPIX via Photosport
Ally Wollaston, pictured after winning a world junior track title in 2019, has fractured her wrist just before the Commonwealth Games.
Wollaston’s AG Insurance NXTG team suffered a second blow on the second stage. Italian rider Gaia Masetti also crashed and was taken, with Wollaston, to hospital for check-ups.
A social media post, issued by the Dutch team with a photo of Massetti before the crash, said “Gaia has several stitches, but luckily no broken bones’’.
It would be a cruel blow for Wollaston if she has to miss the Commonwealth Games.
She was ruled out of potential selection for the Tokyo Olympic Games after suffering concussion in early 2021 which sidelined her from training and racing for two months.
Wollaston is a part-time law student at the University of Waikato.
According to Cycling New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games media guide, Wollaston excelled on the track and road as a collegiate athlete.
She won gold in the individual pursuit at the junior track world championships in 2019, also winning silver in the team pursuit in 2018.
Equally adept on the road, she is the current under-23 road champion and elite criterium champion, and she won the GP of Morbihan for her Dutch NXTG Racing professional road team.
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