Women's cycling star Mirjam Melchers (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) will be out of competition for several months. On Thursday, April 27, doctors at a Dutch hospital in Veldhoven diagnosed vasoconstriction in her left leg, which will need to be operated soon.
Vasoconstriction is a narrowing of blood vessels, causing restricted blood flow. Melchers, who will be out of competition for months because of this, has been suffering back and knee problems for a while. The Dutch woman recently won the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, but found herself more and more handicapped as the season moved on. She is now aiming at coming back to competition for the World Championships in Salzburg, Austria, at the end of September.
