Remco Evenepoel (Deceunick-QuickStep) is easing back into training on the road, recently taking on an hour-and-a-half ride, stepping back onto the bike after continued delays as he works toward a comeback from August’s Il Lombardia crash.
The 21-year-old rider had appeared to be recovering quickly after he fractured his pelvis when he went over a bridge into a ravine at the Italian one-day race and was back to training outdoors in November and December. However, he was still in pain and team doctors advised him to stop training in mid-December, to give himself longer to heal.
“Today I can finally ride outside again. I did a small training ride on the road this morning but now it's time to go out and I am super excited. Since yesterday, since the day before, I was looking forward to this moment,” said Evenepoel in a video he posted on Twitter.
“It’s not a long ride, an hour and a half, but I will enjoy every single second of it and I hope everything feels good and that I can go and train outside every day again.”
After the ride, Evenepoel told Het Laatste Nieuws, "it went well. I'm happy. I have not felt any bother."
Evenepoel had been hoping to return to the bike in January, but then Deceuninck-QuickStep said he would have an extra three weeks off after a scan convinced the team’s medical staff to delay his return to February 8, exactly three months from his previously planned Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia. The Belgian rider was cleared to train on that date but the team doctor also said they would have to proceed with caution. Evenepoel said he would take the process step by step, with his future program dependant on his progress.
Following the news of his setback in January, Evenepoel did set out a ‘Plan A’ and a ‘Plan B’ – the former being to target the Giro at full strength, the latter being to target the Olympics, Vuelta a España, World Championships, and Il Lombardia.
