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Loic Bruni Fractures Heel Bone, Still Hopes to Race Leogang World Cup

Jun 2, 2021
by Sarah Moore  


Loic Bruni says he crashed after losing balance on a jump while riding in Italy on Friday and hit his heel on a rock. He's said today that he has a compression of the bone in his heel and a small break on the side of the heel. After three productive days at the Red Bull Advanced Performance Center, Bruni says he is going to try riding tomorrow and still hopes to race in Leogang on June 12.


bigquotesUpdate from the situation! Got lucky from this one and I still have a shot at riding in a decent shape in Leogang. It’s been a tough last couple of months, not where I want to be but we will take it as it comes and see. Massive thanks to the APC crew @redbull for their support. I hope the pain will be fine tomorrow on the downhill bike, can’t wait to ride Schladming.—Loic Bruni


We're wishing Bruni the best of luck with his recovery and we can't wait to see him back on the race course.

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71 Comments
  • 237 0
 First Bigcock and now Bruni...
  • 227 1
 Pidcock*

Suspicious Autocorrect...
  • 51 0
 I think your phone just outed you lmaaaooo
  • 35 0
 @theoskar57: used that word too many times on Tinder, didn't you? Wink
  • 27 1
 @theoskar57: Not at all suspicious. Your search terms are generally saved on your device for use by trusted apps and targeted marketing.

Your post may go #Legendary - congrats!
  • 7 0
 @theoskar57: I upvoted just out of respect
  • 12 0
 @Tmackstab: I upvoted out of disrespect
  • 2 0
 @theoskar57: frigging classic!
  • 4 1
 @theoskar57: i was texting double into my phone and it suggested penetration as the next word and i'm like WTF!!!! i have never searched these terms in my life, why the f*ck is my phone saying that??!?
  • 8 0
 @jamesbrant: maybe your wife / significant other borrowed your phone recently...Need to up your game
  • 2 0
 Well they do say he's the "most talented" British cyclist of his generation.
And I suppose you can get a bit of an eyeful when they're on the podium in their lycra.
  • 4 0
 I wonder if this will catch on like Dick Pound.
  • 1 0
 @UtahBrent: no way. Having the actual name of Dick Pound is legendary and beats (also funny) misspelling.
  • 168 6
 Oof... and to think it was probably avoidable if he was just riding the right bike with a stock linkage...
  • 20 0
 This made me lol on something that isn't a laughing matter.
  • 33 0
 I blame Cascade Components! Cascade Components you have a lot to answer for here! Why would you hurt Super Bruni????!!!! This might be sarcasm.
  • 5 0
 if the chainstays were a normal length it might have helped too
  • 10 1
 @protour insights on specialized flawed geo are needed
  • 9 0
 And they tell you to descend with your heels down. Heal up!
  • 1 6
flag Kmccann137 (Jun 2, 2021 at 16:15) (Below Threshold)
 How do you know what he is riding?
  • 3 0
 Nvm i see it now lol!
  • 1 0
 Something high pivot then
  • 1 0
 If only he had the high pivot
  • 1 0
 I predicted people would get injured because of this design, lol.
  • 95 0
 Hope he heels quickly.
  • 57 0
 He should know better than to try jumps on Friday. Save them for Saturday (sends).
  • 25 0
 Probably can still ride but when I fractured my heel it took a very long time to heal ( no pun intended ). Was limping for months.
  • 12 0
 Did this myself as well... hurt more to walk than to ride! Get after it Bruni!!!
  • 11 0
 Yeah it's insanely hard to rehab because you're always using the damn thing. I couldn't just sit on my butt long enough.
  • 5 0
 Yep. I was off my feet for 3 months & then had 60 therapy sections.
He's crazy to try & ride.
  • 4 1
 @VersusTires: yup, it was a 6-8 month recovery for me..
  • 2 0
 I was the same.
Walking was painful for a very long time, especially after playing Badminton, then next morning after playing I was a cripple a year on.
But riding and racing was fine. I won a Dh race a couple of weeks after damaging my foot in a similar way (and my shoulder too) in a pretty heavy crash. Slightly different level though!
  • 3 0
 Broke mine bailing on Detroit Rock City years ago. Still hurts.
  • 6 0
 I broke mine and limped for months and I still have some random discomforts, but only when walking. Never bothered me to ride or skate or anything, only doing normal people stuff, like grocery shopping.
  • 2 0
 Fractures to the calcaneus (heel) can vary from minor to severe depending on the energy that went into it during the injury. It’s a obviously a very strong bone so it often takes a high energy mechanism to really cause them to shatter, such as falling from height. Even with surgery, these are tough to treat. Some are minor, but even minor ones are typically treated with nonweight bearing in a cast or a walking boot until it heals.
  • 2 0
 Yea I couldn’t walk properly for months either, but clipped in to a bike he may be ok sooner...
  • 2 0
 @Richt2000: I'm 11 years down the line and still suffer with pain and mobility. Hopefully Loics is just a small fracture!
  • 3 1
 @PazzaAE86: yup hurt mine 7-8 years ago. Between that injury and really bad plantar fasciitis I suffer from daily pain and mobility issues as well. Fun stuff.
  • 2 0
 @PazzaAE86:
I feel your pain. I'm 11 years down this September. The daily battle against the pain is soul destroying. Fingers crossed Loic makes a full recovery and is back to warp speed!
  • 2 0
 @Bushmaster123: Ugh. I got plantar fasciitis in my other foot from favoring the wonky one so much.

Luckily, it takes a lot of uneven walking for my heel/ankle to act up. My biggest problem is that my foot healed crooked, so the metatarsal head on my pinkie toe is too low & basically hurts all the time. Walking barefoot is basically not an option anymore.

Hang in there. At least we're still walking. I know of a few people who basically had to completely change their lives because of the injury.
  • 1 0
 @VersusTires: Could be worse always. Had to give up Skateboarding, skiing, (snowboarding is still tolerated or at least I refuse to give it up ), running ( no loss its boring as hell ). Biking still works though! I hobble around walking like a guy 20 years older than myself haha!
  • 1 0
 @Bushmaster123: The only thing I've tried since doing mine is bikes. Feels fine. Kinda scared to try snowboarding but I'm pretty sure it'd be good (maybe not jumps). We had our son a few months after I broke mine & then started Versus, so haven't had a lot of time to do much other than some pedaling when I get the chance. Mainly stoked that I can run around with little dude fairly well still... but yeah, for sure could be way worst. I know/know of a few athletes who are no longer pro anymore after doing their heel.
  • 1 0
 @VersusTires: Congratulations on the birth of your son! Best of luck.
  • 15 1
 Bruni's "Not so Standard" heel is fractured
  • 4 0
 His heel is no longer Standard
  • 12 0
 What a bummer! Hope he heels up quick!
  • 18 0
 Amen. Would be no small feet if he managed to race on that.
  • 4 0
 TOEtally agree
  • 4 0
 Had this same injury about 10 years ago (to both heels at the same time...fell off a roof). Its incredibly uncomfortable (like a super deep bruise) but ....[**putting on my armchair doctor hat**]....he may possibly be able to function somewhat normally while the bones heal with the right supportive/compression gear and lots and lots of ice/anti-inflammatory medication. While not as painful as a break, I do recall it took like 4-6 months for the discomfort to go away.....though I'm not a professional athlete.

I wish him the best of luck in recovery. Hopefully he's not down too long.
  • 1 0
 Can confirm. 6yrs post accident for me (fell ~16ft from ladder) and heel still bothers me every now and again.
  • 6 2
 once you have been diagnosed with a major injury like fractured heel the rules should make you do some bench time. Then again I am just the average Joe. I just don't want to see contracted riders risking their lives for an energy bar or soda pop boss. Dude needs to recover.
  • 6 0
 I once broke mine in half... required a permanent dose of titanium and 3.5 months to be back on a mountain bike.. Hope the dude heals faster (no pun, intended or otherwise)
  • 1 0
 @evergreenc2s: I did a similar thing! Snapped the ball off after washing out going over a small drop; somehow my foot stayed clipped in whilst my heel got wedge in the rear triangle.

It was 3 Months before I was allowed to ride again.
  • 1 0
 @realize: Ya you just have to respect the fracture or it will get worse and not heal then you have a REAL problem. This manly crap is played he is in denial.
  • 4 0
 Yikes.
They call the heel a "hard boiled egg", when it cracks it basically explodes.

I did mine in 2016, non-weight bearing for 3 months, 3 surgeries & 60 therapy sessions later, I'm approx 95% healed.

He's crazy to try & ride. A bad break could be a career ender.
  • 1 0
 What's more troubling to me, is he's a motogp fan and redbull teammate of Marc Marquez so you know he's well aware of what happened when he tried to return to racing way too soon.
  • 7 0
 Man everyone is getting injured. Heel up Bruni!
  • 6 0
 @sarahmoore in better news @cpendrel won the 'Valle di Casies Trophy' today www.instagram.com/p/CPoCRKIl5QL
  • 5 1
 This never would have happened if he were riding a standard sized bike with stock links
  • 5 0
 Let's not forget about the blacked out tire sidewalls also. Doh!
  • 1 0
 Shit. Bonne chance Loic! Fractured my heel bone as well when I broke my ankle. They let it heal on it's own since I was in a cast for 12 weeks and no weight bearing for a further 2 months. I can feel that fracture every so often if it makes sense? January will be 6 years since my break.
  • 4 0
 Oh heel no
  • 3 0
 Duct tape will fix that... Wink
  • 2 0
 Go LOIC go¡¡¡¡


RACE TIME ¡¡¡
  • 2 0
 if only he jumped another foot.
  • 1 0
 I heard dh racing is dangerous
  • 1 0
 Tell me Aaron Gwinn didn't at least smirk reading that headline.
  • 1 0
 Get in the van, Biatch
  • 3 3
 He shouldn't race...
  • 4 0
 who you pulling for? LOL!
  • 9 0
 @onemanarmy: His heel lol







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