Rui Costa was yet another pre-race general classification contender forced to pull out of the Tour de France, after his chest infection turned into an onset pneumonia. Despite a huge disappointment, according to Lampre-Merida team the 27-year old Portuguese quickly switched his focus on the World Championship title defense coming in September and is expected to race a string of one-day races held in North America as a build up.

According to Lampre-Merida manager Brent Copeland, Costa is still yet to recover physically from the onset pneumonia which pulled him out of the Tour de France as well as to get over the disappointment on a purely mental side, but everything should fall into right places to properly prepare for World Championships in Ponferrada.

“We wanted to pull him out, let him recover and have him do the races up to the world championships,” Lampre team manager, Brent Copeland told Cycling Weekly.

“We are doing tests to see when he can start up again, but he was meant to take a break after the Tour de France and the Eneco Tour, so for us, it’s fine. He should get over the infection and have a good end of season”

Copeland also gave some more detailed information about a development of Costa’s illness during the French grand tour.

“He’s been suffering with bronchitis, the doctor was worried,” added Copeland. “He felt his chest hurting a lot on Sunday, that his chest infection wasn’t healing.

“On Monday, the doctor took him for x-rays and saw that pneumonia was starting. It hadn’t set in, but if he had carried on it probably would’ve turned into an infection.”

“He was disappointed to leave the Tour. He was battling for a week, you could see he wasn’t himself,” Copeland continued.

The World Champion is expected to ride the GP Plouay on August 31, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in Canada as the most significant from a string of North American one-day races he has in his race programme, which turned out to be so successful last season.

“We hope so he can return fast enough. The doctor thinks that he can, but if he had carried on in the Tour it would have been a risk for him to pick up an infection. He should get over it quickly and start up again towards the Worlds.”