Fausto Esparza Munoz, the Tecos-Trek rider seriously injured Sunday in a crash on the final stage of the Tour of the Gila, rode for Tecos last September in the inaugural Tour of Missouri.

In the Tour of Missouri, he was listed as Fausto Marcelino Esparza. 

According to Velonews.com, Munoz was medivac-ed to a hospital in El Paso, and the coverage indicated that Munoz had “no sensations below the waist.” The Las Crucas Sun-News reported on its website that Munoz “was rumored to have suffered a severe back injury and was unable to move his legs.”

 Also injured in the crash was Bissell’s Tom Zirbel, who was hospitalized with a broken clavicle, ribs and a finger, according to Velonews.com. Zirbel had been the race leader before going down in the crash with Munoz and six other riders on a high-speed descent.

The Munoz injury made for a bittersweet day for Tecos-Trek at the Gila, which represented a break-through performance for the team. After the final stage Sunday, Gregorio Ladino Vega stood atop the podium in the pink jersey as the overall winner and the remainder of his Tecos-Trek teammates joined him as the overall team winner as well.

In some respects, the Tour of Missouri set the stage for Tecos-Trek’s successful Gila. Tecos animated the Tour of Missouri with courageous attacks and earned not only the most aggressive rider jersey for John Fredy Parra but also a sponsorship from Trek for this season. 

The Gila is a major event on the U.S. national calendar and featured some of the teams that competed in the recent Tour de Georgia — Toyota-United, Bissell, Health Net-Maxxis, Symmetrics and some Slipstream-Chipotle riders.

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