By Susan Westemeyer
Things are finally starting to look up for Belgian Greg Van Avermaet. The 22 year-old Silence-Lotto rider has been suffering from equilibrium problems caused by a virus he caught at the Ruta del Sol, and has not been able to ride since then. But now, "I am practically rid of my illness," he wrote on his website, gregvanavermaet.be.
Unfortunately, he will still not be able to ride Tirreno-Adriatico, as hoped. The Italian race "came perhaps a few days too soon, and the doctor didn't want me to take any risk of falling or of not being fully recovered."
The race "would have been ideal to get back into the racing rhythm, and as a preparation for the Classics. Now I must try to do that with training and one-day races." He will train in Tuscany, "in better weather conditions."
Van Avermaet will make his return to racing next week in the Nokere Koers, "finally another race. It won't be easy after a month without competition. But simply being at the start will help a lot."
