Up and coming Saxo Bank rider Jakob Fuglsang is currently on training camp with his team-mates in Fuerteventura but has had to take a short break from training to get over a knee problem.
“I have had pain in the knee for three weeks now and have had this scan just to find out whether I should take a break, or if I can train without problems,” he told TV2sport.dk. “I can still train well, but it hurts.
“It just appears that there is a little inflammation in the knee. I’ll have our team physician Piet [De Moor] look at the pictures, so we will decide exactly what should happen.
He said that he first felt a slight pain in his knee in a training session back home in Denmark, and doesn’t know if that was significant. He’s now got a new bike, new shoes and a new position on the bike, and so one or all of these could be a contributory factor. Fuglsang hopes that a break of two to three days will be enough to recover from the issue.
“The important thing is that the scan immediate showed that there is nothing in the meniscus or ligaments or anything like that, so I am reasonably sure that an intervention is not necessary.”
The Dane secured Saxo Bank’s interest in 2008 when he won the Tour of Denmark, and moved to the team from the small Designa Køkken squad. He defending his title in 2009 season, as well as winning the Tour of Slovenia, finishing second in the Giro dell’Emilia, sixth overall in both the Volta a Catalunya and the Dauphiné Libéré and tenth in the Tour of Ireland. He rode his first Grand Tour when he participated in the Vuelta a España and took second, third and third on stages.
Team owner Bjarne Riis believes he’s going to be one of the top names in the years ahead. “Jakob is without a doubt one of the biggest talents in cycling and this season he has underlined his huge potential,” he said in October, when announcing that the rider would remain with the team until the end of 2012. “To make a top professional debut like this has hardly been seen before and I have no doubt that Jacob can go far in the sport.
“Without overestimating, I would not be surprised if he is seen in the forefront of the Tour de France within a few years.”
The 24 year old is due to start racing in Majorca on February 7th, but it will be over two months later before he plans to hit top form. “My top priorities are the Ardennes Classics in April and then the Tour in July,” he said. “There I will be quite sharp, but the aim will be primarily to help Frank and Andy [the Schleck brothers]. I also hope to get some results for myself during the season.”
Paris-Nice, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Tour of Switzerland and the Tour of California are races that he nominates as possible targets. He’ll be determined to move up another level in 2010, both for his own development and also because the team is searching for a new sponsor after Saxo Bank indicated it would end its backing next winter.