Hoste calls an end to 2009 season

Image 1 of 2

Belgian Leif Hoste announced that will stop racing for the season. The Silence-Lotto rider ended his season due to ongoing complications with an injury suffered in a crash at Paris-Roubaix.

"A new exam showed that my thigh is still heavily bruised," Hoste told Belgian newspaper Het Laaste Nieuws. "It puts me out for six to eight weeks. It's the end of story for me, as far as 2009 is concerned."

Injury marked Hoste's season. He crashed on the Carrefour de l'Arbre cobble sector of Paris-Roubaix in April, but recovered to finish fourth. Since then, however, he has taken part in just a handful of races.

Hoste's decision to stop means his final race of the season was Belgium's Halle-Ingooigem one-day race, July 26. He finished 20th, his best result since Paris-Roubaix.

Hoste, 32, spent much of the past five months with physicians to resolve the muscular imbalance that Roubaix's injury caused. "I tried [to race], but the power difference between my legs was too much. I was overloaded and unbalanced, it wrenched my back in the process," he said.

He will now concentrate on making a full recovery before he commences 2010 preparations. "I love working in my physiotherapy sessions and carrying out exercises on my leg that are not too taxing. For now, intensive training, let alone racing, is not an option."

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed