Bob Roll: “I’ll be at the Tour if I have to be on a stretcher.”

A recently broken leg won’t keep Versus commentator Bob Roll from the Tour de France this summer, and likely won’t prevent him from helping the cable network cover Paris-Nice, which starts March 7.

Roll broke his femur last month in a skiing accident at the Durango Mountain Resort in Colorado.

“So far the recuperation is on track, there have been no major complications,” Roll told VeloNews in a telephone interview. Roll returned home from the hospital about three days ago and is getting around on crutches.

“if anyone needs a lesson in humility, not being able to do anything is the way,” he said. “It’s truly remarkable what you take for granted … you really rely on the help of friends and loved ones.”

Roll, 49, said he began downhill skiing five years ago, and this was his first major injury. “My velocity exceeded my skill,” he said.

The former 7-Eleven and Motorola pro racer never broke a leg while cycling.

“I think about how many thousands of miles we raced up and over the Alps and the Dolomites and through traffic, and I imagine I must have slightly avoided an incredible volume of mayhem,” he said.

Roll began physical therapy Thursday and said his doctors expect a 100-percent recovery.

“I’ll certainly be at the Tour and Paris-Nice should be no trouble.”

Roll said he does regret missing the introduction of Steve Bauer’s SpiderTech team in Toronto last week and the FrostBike trade show in Minneapolis later this month.

FILED UNDER: News / No Spoil TAGS: Bob Roll

Steve Frothingham

VeloNews.com editor Steve Frothingham joined the gang in bike-crazy Boulder in early 2008. He is the former executive editor of the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. He also was a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, where he covered three presidential primaries in politics-crazy New Hampshire. His racing career began on a BMX track in 1980 and reached its zenith with several miserable road races as a category 2 in the early 90s. He subsequently retreated to cat. 3, where he has had a consistently mediocre (at best) record ever since, in road, mountain bike and cyclocross events. Follow him on Twitter at @steve_froth

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