Fuglsang hopes his early season woes are over

Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang was one of the breakthrough riders of the 2009 season, winning both the Tour of Slovenia and the Tour of Denmark, as well as finishing second in the Giro dell'Emilia. But the Saxo Bank rider has not been able to get up to speed so far in 2010.

The 23-year-old had a good training camp in January, but since then has been unable to ride as well as he hoped. “I can see it when I look at my power metre. I can't produce enough watts compared to what my pulse indicates, and it is very frustrating," Fuglsang told the Danish news agency Ritzau.

Fuglsang had some minor knee problems over the winter, but that has cleared up and said it is no longer a problem. “At training camp on Fuerteventura, things went beyond all expectations and I could not understand why it went so well. But since then I've dropped into a hole.”

However, things are looking up for the former mountain biker. “Only the last few days that things are starting to get better. Maybe I just needed a little break.”

Fuglsang is riding the one-day race Giro del Friuli in Italy today, and will ride Paris-Nice which begins on Sunday.