Cozza hopes to have beaten season-long health problems

Steven Cozza hopes to have finally laid to rest the health problems that have plagued him during his first year with German Team NetApp.  The American rider has seen only limited service in 2010, not riding at all since August 8.

Coza was originally diagnosed with yeast and parasitic intestinal infections, which kept him out for the much of the spring. Things didn't get better as the year went on, however, and his last race was Paris-Correze, at the beginning of August.

“This fall has been a unique one because I have been dealing with an illness that I was finally properly diagnosed with,” he wrote on the team's homepage. “Thanks to team NetApp’s medical team for setting me up with a very good hospital in Germany for complete testing.  I spent 3 days in the Aachen University Hospital undergoing every test you could possibly have for digestive health issues.  The end result was that I was told I had colitis of the intestines.”

Colitis is an inflammation of the colon or large intestine and is generally treatable by diet.

“I am now doing a lot of work to fix this so that I can be at my best in the coming year of racing.  To change things up a bit I have been cross training in many different ways.  Some days I run, other days I lift weights and even have been doing a bit of kayaking.  For more relaxing activities I have been doing quite a bit of fishing, hiking and even building furniture.”

The 26-year-old has his aims clearly set on a successful return to racing. “I am doing everything I can every second of the day to get better from what plagued me during my first season with Team NetApp.  I look forward to updating you again when l get back to racing full swing ahead.”