World champion to rest after sustaining knee injury following Czech Toi Toi Cup race
Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) is to sit out this Sunday’s Vlaamse Industrieprijs Bosduin in Kalmthout, Belgium, after sustaining a minor knee injury. The World champion suffered the injury immediately following his victory in the first round of the Toi Toi Cup in Stribo, Czech Republic on Saturday. He has agreed with the Quick Step team’s medical staff that he will sit out Sunday’s race, and take a week’s rest before he resumes training.
“After the finish I was heading back to the tent behind the podium," explained Stybar, “when all of a sudden I hit my right knee against a delimitation barrier for the athletes' access route to the tent. It didn't seem like anything too serious at the time, but as soon as Sunday during a race in Baden, Switzerland, my knee started persistently bothering me.
“I'm really bummed I won't be able to race on Sunday,” he continued, “ but I think it's only right that I should recover before returning to the races. We're at the beginning of the season and I don't want to run the risk of the problem coming up again during the course of the season and compromising my performance."
The Kalmthout race was part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup for the previous six years, with the last two being contested in the week before Christmas. Stybar won the race himself in 2007 when it was the first round of the series in mid-October.
With the World Cup series beginning in Plzen, Czech Republic in less than three weeks, and with the important Superprestige and GvA Trofee series’ beginning soon, it will be important for ‘Styby’ to get to full fitness again soon.