Gerald Ciolek's bad luck continues with the announcement that he has been pulled from team Milram's lineup for this weekend's GP Plouay with a cold. The same illness had forced the sprinter to miss the Vattenfall Cyclassics, and missing further days of competition will be little help for the German who has struggled to reach his top form all season.
Ciolek started the year off with an injury at the Tour of Qatar that didn't see him return to competition until the Tour of Romandie. Initially he was thought to have only broken his collarbone, but further examination revealed a separated right shoulder and a broken scaphoid bone in his wrist. The additional injuries proved to be a major setback for the young German, whose only win so far this season has been a stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt.
He rode the Tour de France with his best placing being that of runner-up to former teammate Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) in stage five. With Milram set to fold at the end of the season, his former team has opened the door for a possible return of the former German national champion. A move back to HTC-Columbia would see Ciolek under the tutlage of compatriot Erik Zabel, but it would also mean he would be filling the role left open with André Greipel's move to Omega Pharma-Lotto as the number two sprinter.
A repeat stage win in Vuelta a España could earn the 23 year old a place as leader on one of the new teams in the hunt for a ProTour license. With both Cavendish and Farrar likely to be present to prepare for the world championships, the dash for the line looks set to resemble the battle royal that takes place in July, meaning any more setbacks will wipe away Ciolek's chances for glory.
Milram will replace Ciolek with Paul Voss in this weekend's race, and along with Markus Fothen, Johannes Fröhlinger and Fabian Wegmann, will make up the German contingent of the squad. The team will also send Thomas Rohregger (AUT), Luke Roberts (AUS), Roy Sentjens (BEL) and Niki Terpstra (NED) to northwestern France.
With the sun setting on Germany's sole ProTour squad, riders on the hunt for contracts next season will look to assert themselves in an effort to remain gainfully employed.