After a month in which the team was hit by a wave of injuries and illness, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty chooses for a progressive return into competition of its riders, whose rehabilitation is following a positive evolution. Although the World Team focuses on a return to stability, a new setback has to be taken into account because of the injury of Rui Costa.
Ortwin Schäfer (Head doctor):
« Adrien Petit, who broke a phalanx proximalis in his left hand, is again training on the road. Both the fracture and the wound at his finger are healing well. In ten days he will be able to return into competition. »
« Also Aimé De Gendt resumed training, on the rollers, ten days after the successful elbow operation following his crash in the Tour of Flanders. His cast was removed, however, the healing process of his elbow fracture will take several weeks. We expect him to return into competition in June. »
« Biniam Girmay, who was involved in the same crash as Aimé, was closely monitored in Belgium for two weeks to take care of his wounds and evaluate the state of his concussion. After a last neurological test in the hospital of Uccle last Friday, he received our green lights to return home and continue his rehabilitation in Eritrea. On Monday he rode on the rollers for 15 minutes for the first time to start up his step by step comeback to sports. »
« Taco Van der Hoorn, who also sustained a concussion in the Tour of Flanders, is already a little further in the gradual training build up. He can slowly increase the training intensity as long as we are can avoid long term effects of concussion. The next weeks will teach us whether a participation in the Tour of Italy is a realistic scenario. »
« Also the team for the Ardennes classics was affected by injuries. Because of an irritation of his knee, Rui Costa will not be able to participate in La Flèche Wallonne this Wednesday. »
« In addition to our injuries, the team faced a wave of illness, causing our riders to draw on the reserves during the classics the past month. Most of our riders have recovered, except for Rune Herregodts and Baptiste Planckaert who are not back at full health yet. The next couple of weeks we planned a rest period for this group of riders. »
« Hugo Page is still struggling with glandular fever and has to limit his efforts to short and easy rides. His comeback goes with ups and downs, that’s why we have to be careful. »
Aike Visbeek (Performance Manager) :
« During the classics our team has been badly affected by crashes, injuries and illness. In the midsts of all this bad luck our young talents took over and showed themselves in a brilliant way. I’m thinking of Dries De Pooter, Madis Mihkels or Laurenz Rex. We are now focusing on finding stability, aiming to return to our level of the beginning of the season. That’s why we choose to anticipate and adjust our racing calendar for May. »
