After months of recovery from a knee injury, one of Belgium’s top sprint stars is back racing this Sunday in the Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré in West Flanders, but is warning that he is not at all certain of what his race form will be like.
Dogged by a knee injury that has kept him in the sick bay at a time when he usually races up multiple successes – last year by this point he already has six wins – 33-year-old Tim Merlier was due to take part at Nokere Koerse and Bredene Koksijde this week. But then he had to pull out.
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His race in Montseré, dedicated to the Belgian World Champion of the early 1970s who died tragically young, will thus be a real challenge, but he’s ready to face it.
“It is typical of me to want to prove that it is possible with less training, but it is against my better judgment.”
Merlier opted for the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré because it was the least demanding of the available options, rather than risk a more challenging start in other Classics or next week’s hilly Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy.
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