> “It actually started back in November with a knee injury caused by switching to new equipment. It wasn’t too serious at first, but I was still dealing with the aftermath of a heavy crash in the BEMER Cyclassics last season. I bruised my kidney and broke some ribs in that crash, so it was a bit of a false start. I had a good training camp in December, but when the time trial bikes arrived in January, the problems started all over again. My knee pain got much worse then, and I could barely do anything for three weeks.”
Mauro Schmid also had knee issues after switching from Soudal–Quick-Step to Jayco–AlUla, also due to the new equipment. Are you and the team now being more critical about that?
> Yeah, for sure. I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but especially the second time, when we started riding the new time trial bikes during training camp, I really didn’t think it was a good idea. You’re already doing long hours there, and that’s when issues can happen. But these things happen, and I think the team will learn from it. They’ll understand that it’s probably not the smartest move to do a 30-hour training week on a brand-new bike setup.”
Team kneepain gaining ground on team backpain this season