Post-injury Gaviria on comeback trail at Tour de Pologne
Nearly three months after a left knee injury caused him to abandon the Giro d'Italia, Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) makes his long-awaited return to racing this Saturday at the Tour de Pologne.
For Gaviria, the aim at the Tour de Pologne is both to measure his race condition against the other top sprinters and to begin his build-up for the Vuelta a España. But the recovery from his knee injury has not been an easy process, the Colombian told Cyclingnews prior to the start.
"Getting my knee back into shape hasn't been straightforward," Gaviria, who went back to Colombia for the treatment, said. "One of my tendons was inflamed and my kneecap hurt a lot as a result.
"I had to have four weeks of physiotherapy, then I started riding because I felt good, but then it was starting to hurt again, so I'd have to stop and rest up before getting back into riding again. So for quite a while, my recovery felt like it was two steps forward, one step back."
Finally, though, the process is complete, and the former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia stage winner is looking forward to getting back into action, although he is understandably cautious about what kind of success he can have after such a long spell away.
"Recently I've been doing long training sessions without any pain whatsoever. But we're here in my first race since the knee problem arose, so we'll see how it goes."
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