Darwin Atapuma of the BMC Racing Team is recovering in his hometown of Túquerres, Colombia, after being attacked by a pair of bandits during a training ride earlier this week.

Atapuma was stopped by two men Tuesday who demanded he surrender his BMC teammachine SLR01. He struggled with the two – one of whom had a knife – and was cut on his left hand and wrist. The two were later apprehended by police.

"It was a stressful event and I was lucky the police were able to get the two guys," Atapuma told BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa. Testa said the 2013 Tour de Pologne stage winner has a protective cast on his arm and will have to ride indoors the next 10 days. But the injuries are not expected to affect Atapuma's racing program, which begins at the Tour Méditerranéen in France in February.

He is scheduled to return to Europe in a few weeks to attend a training camp in Spain. "Darwin is in good spirits, but a little disappointed because the training was going well," Testa said. "The day before he was attacked, he did a five-hour mountain bike ride."