Giant-Alpecin have given an injury update on lead-out man Tom Veelers who hasn't raced for more than a year.

Team physican Anko Boelens said:

“Tom is currently occupied working on his second recovery process after another knee operation at the end of March on his defective cartilage. The recovery is now going steadily in the right direction, although a date for his return to the peloton has not yet been decided.”

Veelers added:

“I feel like I have lost a year with this recovery following the first surgery. After the second operation, I started a new recovery program. It is a long process to go through, but that is expected for a cartilage injury like mine. It remains unclear how long it will be before I can start racing again, but the upward trend has begun and I’m pleased with that. One important difference between the first period of rehabilitation and this one is that now I stop when I feel pain whereas before I ignored the threshold of pain.

“In the meantime, I am staying fit with weight training to make sure that when I return to the peloton I will be physically ready. I judge my progression based on what I can do. One example is a relatively simple squad exercise with only my own body weight. Previously I was not able to do this but now I can. On the bike, I am now doing mainly endurance training, ranging from three to five hours in a low gear so I can do this completely pain-free. In addition, twice a week I visit the physio and now I can see that I am progressing. So it is a process that gradually moves forward providing me with confidence for the next step. Of course, I would prefer to race again tomorrow, but that is not realistic at the moment. I am just happy that there is an upward trend again. We will have to be patient, continue rehabilitation and remain optimistic for the future.”