Rebecca Henderson fights back the tears as back injury forces her out of the women’s cross country race

AUSTRALIAN mountain biker Rebecca Henderson says she is second-guessing herself after a back injury forced her out of the women’s cross country race with two laps to go in Rio.

Rebecca Henderson of Australia races during the Women's Cross-Country Mountain Bike

AUSTRALIAN mountain biker Rebecca Henderson says she is second-guessing herself after a back injury forced her out of the women’s cross country race with two laps to go in Rio.

Henderson was time cut from the race on lap four of six when her time was more than 80 per cent of the leader’s first lap.

Afterwards Henderson fought back tears as she lamented the timing of the back injury which had flared up in one of the biggest races of her life.

She is currently sixth on the world cup standings with one race to go and says she must regroup to finish the season on a good note.

Rebecca Henderson was forced to withdraw from the mountain bike race

“It’s not a race that you want to be getting pulled at the 80 per cent at, there are so many people who helped me get here and you want to do it for them as much as yourself, and it’s pretty tough to let so many people down,” Henderson said.

“It’s been pretty damn hard, my back has been in agony, I’ve been managing (it) all year and at the Olympics you don’t necessarily have the same support network you’ve been working with all year and I think I really missed that this week.

“My back flares up and you can’t get any power through to your legs and you can’t even push a hard heart rate.

“It’s something I can manage, but I’m away from home six months a year so I don’t always have the consistent support and physio that I need.

Australian Rebecca Henderson and the rest of the field take at the start of the race Pics Adam Head

“I need the right people around to keep it under control.”

The brutal course at Deodoro, featuring man made rocks and jumps, only made the challenge for Henderson worse as Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds won gold from Poland’s Maja Wlocszczowska and Canada’s Catharine Pendrel.

“There’s no recovery so you’re pushing on the climbs and your upper body is working so hard on the descents,” Henderson said.

The 24-year-old will return to Europe this week and hopes to overcome the back injury to finish the season strongly.

“This has got me second-guessing myself a bit but I’ve got two weeks to re-build and hopefully find something for the last race of the season,” she said.

The men’s race will be held tomorrow and will feature Australians Dan McConnell and Scott Bowden as well as road world champion Peter Sagan.

Originally published as Rebecca Henderson fights back the tears as back injury forces her out of the women’s cross country race