PUEBLO, Colo. – Three-time World Champion Silvano Alves will miss the second event of his career as he continues to deal with an aggravation of his left hip injury that he had surgery on in April.
Alves has looked a shell of himself since returning to the Built Ford Tough Series in Biloxi, Mississippi, and he explained in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last weekend that he needs time to step away from the sport and continue to rehab.
He is 2-for-11 in the past seven events.
“I need to rest a little bit for the inflammation around the nerves and keep going to physical therapy to get the muscles strong,” Alves said. “It is no good. I buck off, buck off, buck off, buck off.”
Alves isn’t positive, but he thinks his hip began to flare up after bucking off Southern Wine in 6.81 seconds last month in Biloxi.
The following week in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Alves also felt some pain despite riding Corpus Red for 84.5 points.
“When I squeeze my knees I feel sore, sore, sore every jump of the bull,” Alves said. “In Tulsa, I (got bucked off) and was limping and I thought it was just in my head because of the surgery, but no, it is inflamed. I need to rest a little bit because of the inflammation and keep going to physical therapy to get my muscles strong. I want to make sure I am ready for Finals and ride like I am supposed to.”
Alves is 13th in the world standings and is 2,724.17 points behind world leader J.B. Mauney.
He has never finished outside of the Top 10 in his career or the Top 2 in the past four years.
Alves is almost completely out of the world title race, and said he is OK with not being able to repeat as World Champion.
Instead, he will focus on trying to win the World Finals next month for the second time in his career, and help the other riders, such as Kaique Pacheco, in their pursuit of a world title.
“Today, I am not riding any bulls,” he said. “In this competition, there is not just one person that can win the world. Everybody has a chance. I feel good just to help the guys. I won’t win this year, but maybe next year or another year.
“I care about winning, but right now I am happy and I just want to feel Ok. I need to ride good and fix my hip so that I am not sore or nothing.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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