Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå (Multivan Merida) will remain sidelined for racing. Prior to the Champéry World Cup, she withdrew from competition to return home to seek medical treatment for an ongoing illness that was zapping her strength.
Medical tests have shown that she suffered a viral infection a few weeks ago. Recovery not yet complete, Dahle Flesjå is trying to get back to her old level slowly in her home country of Norway. Medical tests have shown that she is on her way to getting well again and that the infection should be over within a few days.
This illness in the middle of the racing season has been a severe setback for Dahle Flesjå. The effects were intensified because no one diagnosed the infection for quite a while and Dahle Flesjå kept training intensively.
"At the moment, I cannot train yet due to a lack of both the necessary power and energy. Instead, I sleep a lot and go through a lengthy phase of recovery. It's very hard for me to be forced to such a break in the middle of the season and having no power at all," said Dahle Flesjå.
She's hoping to make her reentry into racing in time for the European championships to be held in Turkey on July 15. But of course her major goal is still to defend both world championship titles she won in 2006.
Her teammates will rally for the Multivan Merida squad in Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada, in her absence.
