17, March 2015, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
In the interest of increasing communication around the health and fitness of BMC Racing Team’s riders, the team will release a regular update from Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa on all rider injuries and illnesses. The update below concerns four of BMC Racing Team’s riders.
Rohan Dennis
Dr. Testa: “Rohan has been recovering from a sinusitis infection. He has been responding well to treatment and he has been training with the goal of returning to race at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. It is an ideal race for Rohan to return to competition as he used to live in Girona so will be racing on familiar roads. His fitness is not 100% but he will use this as an opportunity to ease back into racing.”
Dennis: “I’ve improved a lot since the days before Paris-Nice when I first became ill and have been training solidly for Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. I’m not going into the race with any big expectations. Instead I’ll be focusing on building my racing fitness back up.”
Floris Gerts
Dr. Testa: “Floris has heeled well since crashing at Le Samyn. New X-rays show that the rib fractures were small and very stable. He has been feeling good and has been back riding outside for the past few days. He returned to racing yesterday at Nokere Koerse as a test race with no pressure. He’ll then have a week off before his next block of racing to ensure he has heeled completely.”
Gerts: “I’m feeling really good and have trained well in the past week. I didn’t go into Nokere Koerse with any expectations, but it was a good chance to race again and now I’ll concentrate on being in good shape for the next block of races.”
Philippe Gilbert
Dr. Testa: “Philippe had to pull out of Paris-Nice due to an upper respiratory infection. He’s had a couple of easy days of training to slowly build up each day, and he is noticing a good improvement. After another medical evaluation at the start of the week, a collective decision has been made between Philippe, BMC Racing Team management and myself that it is not in his best interests to race Milan-San Remo.”
Gilbert: “I’m feeling much better and have been back on the bike for some solid training sessions in the past few days. Although I’m feeling better each day my fitness is not where it needs to be to really be competitive at Milan-San Remo so I recognize that the best decision in the long run is not to start.”
Stefan Küng
Dr. Testa: “Stefan had some new blood tests at the beginning of this week which confirmed that he has passed the active phase of the mononucleosis illness. He has been feeling well for a couple of weeks and has been increasing his training accordingly. Stefan has been cleared to return to competition within the month of March.”
Küng: I’m feeling really healthy and it’s great to get the final all clear from my doctors. My training volume has been back to normal for some time, although not at the same intensity. Now so more than anything, I’m just really looking forward to racing again and at this stage I’ll be lining up at Dwars Door Vlaanderen. Now my focus will be on getting some race days in the legs and seeing how my form is.”
