Having been forced to miss the Canadian WorldTour races because of a necessary operation on his wisdom tooth, Andy Schleck is facing further disruption to his racing schedule. He was due to return to action in today’s GP de Wallonie, but will miss this race plus two more events planned for this week.
“Andy won’t yet return to racing because of the operation of the wisdom tooth,” Leopard Trek spokesman Tim Vanderjeugd told VeloNation this morning. “The healing is going slower than expected and his training schedule has been disturbed because of this.
“He will not do the GP de la Somme and the GP Isbergues either [on Friday and Sunday – ed.]. Fränk is doing all these races.”
Last month the UCI released the qualification details for the world championships and, under that, Luxembourg was deemed entitled to start six riders. Despite a largely flat course for this year’s worlds, both Schlecks were working towards that target, with these late-season races acting as a mechanism to build form for Copenhagen and Lombardy.
Schleck’s cancelling of five events [the Canadian races plus this week’s contests] makes his preparation more difficult. Vanderjeugd said that it remains to be seen if the rider will compete in Denmark.
“If the healing picks up, Andy should be ready for the worlds. But this is not certain,” he explained.