Gerrans delays return from elbow break to April

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Orica-GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans has had to scale back his ambitions for returning to the peloton after fracturing his elbow in a crash at Strade Bianche earlier this month. Although aiming to come back for the Volta a Catalunya, the Australian has not yet been able to train on the road, and has pushed his return back to the Vuelta al País Vasco [Tour of the Basque Country] in early April.

“I had my elbow fracture checked by a specialist today and unfortunately my recovery isn’t to a point where I’m able to ride on the road, so I will need to skip the Volta Catalunya,” Gerrans said. “For the moment I will continue to do a lot of work on the home trainer and will hopefully get back out on the road in the near future."

The 2014 winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège will obviously not be starting his Classics season at Milan-San Remo this weekend, but he is not giving up on all of his spring targets.

“It’s still too early to rule out the second part of the Classics,” Gerrans said. “We’ll make a decision on my schedule once I am back racing.”

Strade Bianche was Gerrans' first race back after he fractured his collarbone in a mountain bike crash in December, and the dual disruptions have been a blow. But Orica-GreenEdge director Matt White wants Gerrans to recover fully before setting a race schedule.

“The most important thing right now is Simon’s recovery and once he’s able to race, we’ll see how we can best manage his program going onwards,” White said.

“The fact that he might already be on the road in a couple of weeks is still very good progress, but it’s not the time of year where you can jump into the biggest races and expect to be in with a winning chance. His condition is definitely good, but he needs races to really be competitive at his highest level, so we’ll evaluate and potentially redefine his next goals once he’s back on the road.

“He’s the type of rider who can target and win most races, so it’s more a question of what to aim at, once he’s back.”