T-Mobile rider Tomas Konecny will return to racing on Wednesday at the Tour of Denmark. The 31-year-old has been out of action since last November when he broke his femur in an ice hockey accident at home in the Czech Republic.
Despite plenty of training kilometres during the latter phase of his rehabilitation, Konecny is not expecting much in Denmark. "After such a long break, I can't expect any miracles, but I am just happy that I will finally be back racing again," he said in a team statement.
Konecny will be part of a six-rider T-Mobile squad in Denmark, a race that doesn't throw much in the way of hills at the riders, but is notoriously windy. He will be joined by Bernhard Kohl, Jan Schaffrath, Daniele Nardello plus young German time trial specialist Robert Bengsch, and one more rider yet to be announced.
Ribert Bengsch, 22, currently rides for Continental team Akud and placed third in the German under 23 road championships earlier this year. "Bengsch is one of three riders that we want to watch at races in the coming weeks," said team manager Olaf Ludwig.
The Tour of Denmark runs concurrently with the ProTour Eneco Tour of the Benelux, and T-Mobile is one of only three ProTour teams competing, along with CSC and Rabobank. CSC is once again considered the team to beat. Bjarne Riis' outfit took the top two places in 2004 and this year will be led by Tour de France runner-up Ivan Basso.
