Robbie McEwen after January's Down Under Classic, before misfortune and consequent injury hit his season. (Image credit: Mark Gunter)
Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen will not defend his title in the Vattenfall Cyclassics ProTour race in Hamburg, Germany this weekend. The Katusha rider is still recovering from a fractured tibia sustained in the Tour of Belgium in May.
McEwen said that he is not ready to race this weekend, but will start the Eneco Tour in the Netherlands on August 18. However, he would wait until the last screw was removed from his leg before making more progress.
McEwen made his return to competition last month in a post-Tour criterium in Aalst, Belgium after two months of recovery from his injury.
He suffered a nearly career-ending crash in the second stage of the Tour of Belgium at the end of May. He ran into a metal road sign with his left knee which sliced into the ligaments and fractured the shin bone just below his knee.
After a successful surgery to repair the damage, he began training three weeks later on the road.
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