Dutchman hasn’t ridden a Grand Tour in five years
Dutch rider Thomas Dekker has abandoned plans to travel to Denmark this week in advance of the start of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, saying that he must scratch from the race due to injury.
Instead, the 27 year old hopes to ride either the Tour de France or the Vuelta a Espana with Garmin Barracuda.
“If I start now, there is a high risk that I would have to give up after a few days,” he said. Dekker crashed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and despite resting and training carefully, the issue persists.
Although he wants to take part, he realizes that it would be a very big gamble. “A Grand Tour is too tough not to be at 100 percent to start with,” he said. “I have had consultation with the team management and my programme has been changed.”
Dekker said that he aims to take the time to recover from his injury and that he will most likely return to competition in the Tour of Norway, which starts on May 16th and runs for five days.
“I’m still going to do a Grand Tour this year; this could be the Tour de France or the Vuelta a Espana. It’s a pity – I would have liked to have ridden the Giro, but I’m glad to have been able to set new goals right away.”
Dekker has not ridden a three week race since the 2007 Tour de France. He served a two year ban, returning to racing last July and signing with Chipotle Sugar Labs in August.
He then moved to its ProTour team prior to the start of this season, becoming a Garmin Barracuda rider.