Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

HTC-Highroad's defending champion Eisel determined to be healthy for Gent Wevelgem

Details

Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News Cycling Pro Road & Mtb 2011

Published on Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:00

Written by Luca Salvatelli

2010 Ghent-Wevelgem champion, Bernie Eisel has been suffering from a bad cold but he is determined to take part in this Sunday's edition of the race.

"I was 100 percent preparing for the Classics, but I've had a very uneven build-up to these races," the HTC-Highroad rider said, "I got sick before the Strade Bianche [Mar 5th] race, then I got better again in Tirreno-Adriatico [Mar 9th - 15th], then these last few days I've been really ill with a cold. I started feeling like I didn't want to go training, which was strange, but since yesterday [Wednesday] I know why, because that's when my cold really kicked in."

"I was a bit upset at first because every day when you go training after the previous year's Paris-Roubaix you're thinking and thinking about the Classics and then this happens. But the good thing is when I went training today [Thursday] I actually felt ok. So my legs are all right, and today is the first day that my head is back where it should be and I really want to race these Classics all the way through to Paris-Roubaix again."

"I'm sure I'll race Ghent-Wevelgem, all I have to do is keep on getting better over the next two days and pray for good weather on Sunday!"

Eisel is confident that even if he doesn't feel at 100 percent, other team-mates like Milan-San Remo winner, Matt Goss could take his place.

"Matt is going really well, I saw him racing last week and you can tell that even if he's not in top form and it comes to a sprint, Gossy will be the man."

HTC-Highroad for Ghent-Wevelgem: Lars Bak (Den); Matt Brammeier (Ire); Mark Cavendish (GB), Bernhard Eisel (Aut), Matt Goss (Aus), Danny Pate (USA); Alex Rasmussen (Den); Mark Renshaw (Aus).