Team RadioShack’s Gert Steegmans was scheduled to return to racing today in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon but will not now start the event. “I’m physically not right,” he is quoted as saying by the Belgian press.
The sprinter has had an unlucky start to the season, being hospitalised in February when he hit a parked car on stage three of the Volta ao Algarve, then finding himself in front of the doctors once again in March when he was blown off his bike during the prologue of Paris-Nice.
He suffered a broken collarbone in the second incident, and has been sidelined ever since.
Steegmans had set his hopes on getting back into action this week, telling the Het Balang van Limburg that he wanted to regain condition and convince the team to bring him to the Tour de France.
He knew that he had a lot of work ahead, but was prepared to knuckle down. “The first competition will not be easy,” he told the publication last week. “[But] I want to get to a good level by the Tour of Picardie [May 14-16].”
It is uncertain as to when he will return to racing. Steegman’s previous schedule had him down to ride the Tour of Romandie, which starts on April 27th.
The Vuelta a Castilla y Leon begins today with a 157.7 kilometre stage from Belorado to Burgos. Alberto Contador (Astana) is the race favourite. Providing he avoids the allergy problems which affected him on stage one of the Criterium International, he should be in the hunt for what would be his third stage race victory this year.