Remco Evenepoel has warned his rivals he's on his way back as the young Belgian provides an update on his recovery from fracturing his pelvis in a crash at Il Lombardia.
The Deceuninck - Quick-Step talent tweeted "I'm coming" alongside a video of him back on the indoor trainer as he continues his rehabilitation, adding he is nearly completely pain-free six weeks on from his horror crash in Italy.
"I’m doing well," Evenepoel said of his condition. "I am almost completely pain-free and I am a lot more mobile. I can leave the crutches aside now and I’m happy to be able to start working in a more targeted manner. My recovery process has been going well in recent weeks."
The 20-year-old says the literal initial steps of recovery were the hardest, but will hopefully be returning to cycling indoors on the rollers soon, and then plans to venture outside on his bike.
"Initially I found it hard to go from everything to nothing in terms of movement. But after a necessary period of rest I've become more and more mobile recently," he said.
"In the coming weeks, on weekdays I will spend several hours at the physiotherapist’s doing exercises for pelvic stability and flexibility, which I will combine with cycling training on the rollers. If everything goes well and the weather is fine, I can then go outside for a bike ride. You can say that the real recovery has now begun for me, working towards properly exercising again."
However, with winter approaching, he's not going to risk inclement weather ruining his recovery, meaning it could be a long wait for his first taste of riding outdoors again.
"The next goal is now to complete a proper training session on the rollers and then to ride outdoors," he explained. "We’ll then see how that works out. I’m definitely not going out in the rain and taking unnecessary risks of slipping. As soon as the weather improves, I will definitely enjoy a nice training ride in the open air."
Evenepoel was forced to watch on as his Deceuninck - Quick-Step team-mates competed in the Belgian national road race championship, with Iljo Keisse and Pieter Serry managing second and third behind Alpecin-Fenix's Dries De Bondt.
"Already having a cold feeling since I woke up this morning. Will be hard to watch the race today," he then said of having to watch the world time trial championships on TV, having finished runner-up behind Rohan Dennis at Yorkshire 2019. "But good luck to all competitors! I’ll be in the mix again next year."
