Gerdemann doesn't believe in Tour return this year

Linus Gerdemann will hit the road again for the first time this week since suffering a double left leg fracture and torn knee ligaments in Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico in March. The 26 year-old German, who won Stage 7 of the 2007 Tour de France and held the yellow jersey for a day, doesn't believe he will be fit in time for this year's Tour.

"Naturally I will try all I can, but more realistic is a start in the Olympic Games in Beijing," Gerdemann told the dpa press agency."The breaks have healed well without surgery, but in the injured leg I also tore a ligament in my knee, and that is still causing problems."

So far he has been able to do a little work on the home trainer, but hopes to be back on the road in the coming days. "The doctor gave me the green light to get back on the road in the next few days, when the knee pain allows it – and I will do that," he said.

After his success in 2007, Gerdemann had been slated for a co-captain's role with High Road at this year's Tour, along with Michael Rogers, whose participation is also in doubt due to a recurrence of the Epstein-Barr virus.