Next setback for Remco Evenepoel: The Belgian cycling star actually wanted to start training again over the weekend after a difficult rehab on the roller. But nothing came of this plan.
“Normally I would have trained on the roller this weekend, but my goal now is Monday,” Remco Evenepoel told the Belgian sports portal “sporza”. After he began more intensive physical therapy, it was discovered that a nerve was also affected by his shoulder injury.
“The external muscles – I’m not a physiotherapist, but they are probably a bit inactive. We have to work very hard to stimulate these muscles. So it will take a little longer than hoped,” reported the 24-year-old.
Evenepoel fell in an accident with a postal bus during a training trip at the beginning of December. He suffered fractures to a rib, right shoulder blade and his right hand, as well as a bruised lung and a dislocated collarbone.
Remco Evenepoel only has the Tour de France on his mind
Evenepoel said he doesn’t yet know whether the new setback will affect his season planning. So far, his team Soudal Quick-Step is planning for the “Kannibaal van Schepdaal” to get back into the racing on April 18th at the Pfeil von Brabant. A week later, one of the “monuments of cycling” takes place: Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“We are still based on the Brabant arrow as the start date, but we can move up at any time if necessary,” said the double Olympic champion in Paris about his schedule: “Fortunately, the tour is still a long way away. The new compulsory break is “a shame” he has to but “keep an eye on” his shoulder.
The Belgian wants to fully attack the Tour de France this year. “To be honest, I only have one thing on my mind. That’s to be at the top of the Tour. The rest isn’t really important,” Evenepoel recently said in an interview with the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.