Remco Evenepoel is making progress in his return to fitness after injury and says he will be getting back to indoor cycling at the weekend on his rollers.
The multiple Olympic champion suffered a range of injuries after being doored by a Belgian post vehicle during a training ride in December. Evenepoel required surgery after breaking a rib, his hand and shoulder blade. He also suffered contusions on his lungs and a luxation of his clavicle. The Belgian’s gold S-Works bike was also snapped clean in two by the heavy impact during the incident.
In a media release from his team Soudal Quick-Step, Evenepoel discussed his progress as he continues his return from injury and outlined his goals for the season. The 24-year-old said he is targeting "a good result" at the Tour de France.
"The first couple of weeks after my injury were difficult, because this happened just as I was preparing to start training again, but I tried to take my mind off this during the holidays and things are better now," Evenepoel said. "It’s been almost five weeks now that I didn’t do any proper sports, which means that I have been off the bike for 10 weeks now.
"That’s why the most important thing for me is to start my rehab and jump on the rollers, hopefully on Saturday. I will combine riding with physio sessions. I am ready mentally to be back on the bike, but I won’t push myself to go all in from the beginning, because I want to make a full recovery of my shoulder."
"The reason I’m not going outside yet is that the shoulder isn’t ready to absorb the shocks of the road," he added. "I hope to restart training outside at the beginning of February, that would be the best scenario at this point.
"As I said, it wasn’t easy when this happened, especially as it was my second injury on that side in the same year and I was coming after an excellent summer – which was one of the best moments of my career – but I got a lot of support from my family and my team and eventually stopped thinking about this and focused instead only on my recovery."
Evenepoel explained that he is aiming to make his comeback at Brabantse Pijl in the Classics. He said that if everything goes according to plan on his home roads in Belgium then it’s possible that he could start the Tour de Romandie before competing in the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Belgian National Championships.
"I think it’s easier to return to competition in one-day races instead of stage races," he said. "And I love the Ardennes Classics, so hopefully I will be in good shape by then, in three months' time."
From there Evenepoel will head to altitude for a final tune up before heading to Lille for the start of the Tour.
He concluded: "I want to be at 200% for the Tour de France, and if things go as planned and I continue to improve, I am confident I can start there in a strong form and fight for a good result."
