A quick update for all you caring types who've been enquiring about Lucky Stephens and Benny Van Brooks after their respective accidents in the Giro del Veneto.

Matt Stephens flew home via Manchester Airport yesterday (Monday). He is wearing a brace that will keep his shoulder in position for around 20 days, after which he should be able to resume racing virtually immediately. His comeback target remains the Circuit Franco-Belge at the end of September. He expects to be back riding the static training bike within days.

Ben Brooks is now out of Padova hospital, after undergoing neurological tests. They kept him under observation for 48 hours before giving him the all clear. He was also pleased to hear that his shoulder shouldn't need an operation after all, and is probably best to leave it healing naturally. That prognosis was backed up by new signing Kevin Livingston, who revealed to manager Sean Yates that he had smashed his shoulder and collar bone severely in the past, and a natural recovery is by far the strongest long-term solution. Ben will be following his injury up at the team's hospital in Toulouse when he returns on Thursday. In the meantime, he is spending a couple of days relaxing in the company of his parents who are on holiday in Europe.

There was some drama over Ben's release however, as he was given the green light by a junior doctor to leave yesterday afternoon, then his recuperation interrupted by a phone call to say that the Carabinieri were seeking him for not signing his release forms! Everything was settled amicably at the hospital this morning.

Good news from the official results of Giro del Veneto, which were unavailable at the time of my last communication, as Max Sciandri was confirmed as finishing in 20th spot. That's a good ride in a tough race that Max wasn't expecting to win, so he is very pleased with his form. There is a good team spirit too, as despite the injuries, the team felt that they performed very well as a unit at the weekend, and followed Sean's instructions for early action and to help Max in the latter stages to the letter. As the only foreign team in a race populated by all the top Italian stars, they certainly made an impact with their attacking riding, and forced much of the action in the first two-thirds of the race.

Max rejoins his team-mates at their Alpne hotel tomorrow night, after spending the intervening few days at home near Prato. His wife Ekaterina expects their third baby to arrive very soon now.

His win at Veneto has fuelled the uproar in the Italian papers over Davide Rebellin's omission from the Italian Olympic squad. It certainly seems unusual that a man who always seems to be in such good form at this time of year, and is currently in such devastating shape, can be overlooked. The rest of us should be happy though, as he would certainly have been among the favourites in Sydney.

A footnote: some imaginitive readers took Matt Stephens's crash and subsequent talk of the frequency of his tumbles as criticism of our Principia bikes. I would like to make it clear that nothing could be further from the truth, and all the riders are delighted with the performance of the Yellow Perils. Matt perhaps even more so, as he rode a Principia with Harrods before joining Linda McCartney, and was the first to recommend their steeds to the management. Phew, glad we've got that sorted!