Rabobank team satisfied with his progress, emphasis is on ensuring full recovery
One month and ten days after crashing hard during training and breaking his right femur, Robert Gesink has reached an important milestone in his recovery. The Rabobank rider completed his first 200 kilometres of training, albeit over five days, and uploaded a small video clip showing him outdoors on a mountain bike.
The progress is encouraging, particularly as in mid-September it was said that it would take six months for him to be back to full fitness. “My recovery will take some time,” the Tour de France contender said then. “I must first learn to walk again, and then we will see further.”
Speaking to VeloNation today, Rabobank press officer Luuc Eisenga confirmed to VeloNation that things were progressing satisfactorily. “200 kilometres in five days…it is very much step by step. From what we know from the X rays, the bone is growing so that is going pretty well. For the moment we are happy,” he said.
Eisenga said that prior to returning to the road, Gesink did some rides on the indoor trainer. A couple of weeks ago he then pedalled the bike of his girlfriend, but everything has been done very carefully.
“Robert said the difficulty is the difference between a patient who has to rehabilitate and a professional sportsman who wants more, all the time,” he said. “We have to take it steadily.”
Eisenga didn’t want to get drawn into predications about what Gesink would do in the weeks ahead, and how soon things could be stepped up. “It’s too early to tell. We have a training camp in Fuerteventura from the eighth of December, but it is not sure to what extent Robert will ride his bike over there,” he explained. “We will follow it up, taking things on a day by day, week by week approach. Health is the most important thing for a sportsman, and we have to keep that in mind.”
A past winner of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal and of this year’s Tour of Oman, Gesink’s climbing ability has seen him finish sixth in both the 2009 Vuelta a España and the 2010 Tour de France. He’s still just 25 years of age and is consequently regarded as the big Dutch talent for the future.
Gesink had intended trying to win the Giro di Lombardia, with the race’s hills and tough finale suiting his characteristics. That became impossible when he crashed on September 16th while out training, and instead he’s aiming to return to the peloton next year. Quite when his first race will be remains unclear, though.
“It is impossible to say now,” said Eisenga. “But for the moment, we are content with the progress that he has made.”