Astana Qazaqstan sports director with details about Davide Ballerini's knee injury: "Davide is back in the saddle, but he isn't there for these classics. He clearly may not be ready"

Davide Ballerini was among the most promising reinforcements by Astana Qazaqstan last winter, but as things stand out, it might be a signing that will haunt the Kazakh team's managers for next 12 months as the 29-year-old Italian is struggling with a knee injury which won't let him ride cobbled classics this spring. Sports director Stefano Zanini talked to bici.pro about the current situation around Ballerini.

"Unfortunately his knee problem still exists. Or rather, he is solving it, he is improving. Davide is back in the saddle, but he isn't there for these classics. He clearly may not be ready. We have Cees Bol, Alexey Lutskenko and, at least for the beginning, also Yevgeniy Fedorov who in my opinion can do very well. Then we'll also see what we can do with Max Kanter and Ide Shelling."

"I and we all counted on each other a lot. I was happy to come up here with him. I'm very happy with his return. It's very sad that he isn't there. He was a very important man for these races. But I look ahead and then I think that Bol is good on the cobblestones, that he moves very well. And that the other kids are fine. We can be protagonists: we have a good team."

"For now he is still in team's plans, but he is too far behind. I find it difficult. At this point there is no need to force the timing. We want this to be resolved in the best possible way and above all that Ballerini doesn't have any other problems or relapses. If the classics were to be missed completely, it is better to recover without haste, but good for everything that comes after."