Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Boulder, Colo. - Henk Vogels will not be competing in any more domestic races in 2007 for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

“My season is over. Completely over,” Vogels said Sunday from his home in Boulder. “I’m just going to have to look forward to next year.”

Vogels saw his successful season end abruptly July 7 at the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic Circuit Race. As he was bridging up to a breakaway group that included teammate Ivan Dominguez, Vogels struck a metal crowd barrier fence with his shoulder while rounding a tight turn. The violent impact shattered Vogels’ shoulder socket but incredibly, did not knock him off his bicycle.

Doctors told him it would take at least eight weeks of inactivity before they would know whether he would be able to return to racing. But when the sling came off earlier this week, the news wasn’t good. Any return to racing at this point would be jeopardizing his career, they said. So the long road to recovery continues.

“I have started rehabbing,” Vogels said, “but it’s so painful, you can’t believe it. It’s like doing chin-ups with a knife stuck in your shoulder.”

Vogels, a 13-year professional who has ridden the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, turned 34 on July 31. He knows there aren’t too many more seasons left in a body that’s already survived a near life-threatening crash in 2003. Still, he isn’t giving up hope of racing a couple more times outside the U.S. before the end of the calendar year.

“I’m thinking of trying to get a start in the Tour of Southland in New Zealand in November,” he said. “But we’ll just have to see how things turn out.”