Remco Evenepoel posts first Zwift rides online as he returns to training

Remco Evenepoel made his return to training using this week on Zwift after being given the all clear to restart training after his injuries had fully healed after his crash at Il Lombardia last year.

Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) went on six short rides around the various maps available on the interactive cycling app with rides ranging from 18.5km to 35.6km where he looks to have been taking it relatively steady.

The young Belgian looks to be doing two short rides every day, starting from Monday, February 8 2021, when he was allowed back on the bike again.

Generally these are pretty flat rides, or a touch on the slightly lumpy side with only one ride that included a climb where he was regularly averaging around 100 to 200 watts with peaks of 350 watts per ride.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step trainer, Koen Pilgrim told Het Nieuwsblad:"We build up slowly, because cycling is a repetitive movement for the pelvis, it is recommended to start with a low pedalling frequency.

"Compared to a clavicle fracture or a wrist fracture, a pelvic fracture is a unique injury that does not occur frequently. It requires close follow-up in rebuilding condition. On the first day, Remco sat on the bike twice for half an hour, approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

"We have a plan for the first week in which we cycle on the rollers for up to an hour and a half in different sessions. After consultation with the doctor and the feeling of Remco himself, we build up the duration little by little.

"The intention is that Remco can train on the rollers for a number of hours a day in three weeks. It is only when you can handle three to four hours a day that it becomes interesting to leave if necessary to a place where you can cycle outside. At the moment that makes little sense.

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The reason he has had so much time off the bike was due to him having to recover from a fractured pelvis, among other injuries, that he got when he fell down a large drop on a descent at the Italian Monument, Il Lombardia as he tried to follow Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo).

Evenepoel had returned to riding late last year and was looking strong on the bike after losing around 5kg of what he described as "baby fat" a he looked to focus even more on the Grand Tours.

He had to stop training in January 2021 as he was still having pain when he was sat in the saddle for extended periods. Upon having it checked out, it was found that he had not fully healed from his injuries and need to take another month off the bike.

Deceuninck – Quick-Step's doctor, Phil Jansen, said: “The recovery process from a crash of the magnitude that Remco had will always have some ups and downs.

“In the beginning it was all very positive and healing very quickly but then we had a slowing of the process.

“While this was nothing too severe, we had to pause and we are now happy that Remco can continue training and build towards the start of his season. We will have to proceed with caution and it will still be a long road to him being on the start line of a race, but it is now going in the right direction”

Evenepoel main aim for 2021 is to make his Grand Tour debut, this is likely to be in Turin on the start line of the Giro d'Italia in May, but whether he will be able to challenge for the overall is unknown as of yet.