It may have been a dream for Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) to line up at a revived women's Milan-San Remo, an event close to her European home, but it wasn't long before the race also delivered a less welcome career first – broken bones.
The Australian, who hit the deck at only 25km into the 156km race, had to step away from Milan-San Remo, clutching her shoulder in the tell-tale sign of an all too regular cycling injury.
"I guess I’m officially a real cyclist now after suffering my first ever collarbone fracture and first proper broken bone of my cycling career," said Cromwell shortly after on social media. "I don’t count my thumb last year."
At the time, the team and Cromwell said it was rest rather than surgery that was the expected outcome after the accident. However, things changed when a little more information was revealed.
"In the end, we decided to do surgery on my collarbone to stabilise as turns out I broke my scapular too," said Cromwell in an Instagram story from the hospital.
While the crash ended Cromwell's Classics block early, the versatile rider in her 17th season is now looking ahead to her plans on the gravel. She outlined when she spoke to Cyclingnews in January, on the sidelines of RADL GRVL, that some of the events she had pencilled into her, then, yet to settled calendar events in the US from Belgian Waffle ride series to "probably" Unbound plus some UCI Gravel World Series races.
Among those Gravel World Series events the rider was looking ahead to are Tasmania's The Devil's Cardigan, which the last two years was the home of the Australian championships but this year steps into the global series.
It will serve as the third Australian round alongside Gravelista in Seymour and SEVEN in Nannup, with the West Australian race serving as the UCI Gravel World Championships venue for 2026.
The Devil's Cardigan, with its unique prize of a sack of potatoes and a handmade wooly cardigan, this year has shifted to May 10, while the SEVEN Gravel World Series race across in Western Australia is a week later.
"I might be a bit broken right now, but at least I have The Devils Cardigan to keep me motivated and look forward to race as part of my 2025 gravel calendar this year," said Cromwell in an Instagram post on Wednesday, adding that "[Crossed fingers] I’ll be fully recovered by then."
