Kirchen says no decision over future until December

Kim Kirchen said that he has not yet decided about his future, denying press reports this weekend that he planned to return to racing. The Luxembourger is still recovering from an apparent heart attack suffered at the Tour de Suisse which left him in an induced coma.

“Right now, I just want to get well again,” he told the Tageblatt newspaper. “I feel quite well, all things considered, but I am still under a doctor's care.

“A definite decision as to how it will go on will be made in December. Not before. Everything else is pure speculation.”

It was reported over the weekend that Kirchen was planning to return to racing in 2011, and that Katusha manager Andre Tchmil was opposed to this plan. “It’s irresponsible for someone to race now when in June he was close to death,” Tchmil said. “It’s a time bomb that could explode at any moment. I’m prepared to offer him a job on the team staff, but not as a rider,” Tchmil had said.

Kirchen meanwhile confirmed that he was indeed back on the bike again, but more to keep himself fit than to come back into racing form. “As a father of twins, I have different priorities right now,” he said.