Leah Kirchmann’s season ends with MCL injury

Leah Kirchmann’s 2019 season has come to an unfortunate end as a medial collateral ligament injury has closed the curtains on her competitive year. The Canadian time trial champion picked up the knee injury in Wednesday’s Stage 1 of the Boels Ladies Tour in the Netherlands and did not start Stage 2. She still sits 18th in the UCI Women’s World Tour individual standings with two events to go.

After Wednesday’s stage, Kirchmann posted that she had not only crashed twice but had also been delayed chasing back on.

I've had better days on the bike, 2X crashes, and a prolonged chase due to 2X train crossings ?? #onwardsandupwards https://t.co/HkdNPzRkv1

— Leah Kirchmann (@L_Kirch) September 4, 2019

Kirchmann posted an injury update on Twitter on Monday, declaring, “Sad to report my 2019 is over . . . will require 6 weeks recovery . . . looked forward to the World Championships in Yorkshire . . . will start looking ahead to goals a bit further in the future.”

#injuryupdate ⬇️? pic.twitter.com/62GEOj0eQh

— Leah Kirchmann (@L_Kirch) September 9, 2019

Kirchmann had been rolling of late, with 10th in the World Tour Vårgårda WestSweden road race on August 18 and third in the World Tour Ladies Tour of Norway.

Kirchmann has one more year on her contract with Sunweb.