"I really want to be at the start of the Vuelta" - Jan Tratnik hopeful of returning in time to help Jumbo-Visma complete historic hat-trick
Cycling
Jan Tratnik should have been part of Primoz Roglic's Giro d'Italia win. Sadly for the experienced Slovenian though, he was knocked off his bike on the eve of the race. Finally nearing a return, Tratnik is hopefully of making the Vuelta a Espana selection.
"Until June 7th, I was killing time on the rollers. But finally, the day came when I could hit the road again. It felt like a breath of fresh air, literally!" Tratnik updates on his recovery through a blog on his website. "It only took me a month to go from drowning in a sweat on the rollers to enjoying the open air on my bike. I immediately got extra motivation and that week I trained twice a day, sometimes even three times. I mainly used the rollers to warm up, then hit the road for one or two hours."
The time of the bike has nothing to dampen Tratnik's spirit. In fact, it may have made him hungrier to get back to winning ways. "Alongside my rides, I also had strength training and physiotherapy three times a week. It kind of took me two-thirds of June to get used to riding with a knee that wasn’t quite 100%, but seeing that every day was a huge improvement, I woke up every morning hungry for more progress," he says. "Sure, there were days when my knee would swell up a bit and I’d feel some pain, but with rest, ice, and the amazing regenerative powers of the body, I was ready to train again the next day."
"As for my race program, I still don’t know 100% where I will be competing, but I really want to be at the start of the Vuelta," concludes Tratnik, who would join both Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard if he does gain selection. "There is still some time before then and I believe that I will be ready. I’m really missing the races right now. It’s been way too long since I last pinned on my race number."
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- yes, Jonas said that he had lost a little muscle mass. In the other hand, also Tadej changed his physique: thin, more lighter than ever, legs and glutes well defined (finally, no more junior legs). Both were more lighter than ever but Pogi could put more muscle in legs and glutes.
maria2024202427-12-2024 - He can keep contending for Vuelta podium spots. A lot would need to go wrong for others and everything right for him to get on the Giro podium. He'll only be on the TdF podium if he's becomes a podium presenter.Veganpotter27-12-2024
- I like that, mind if I use it from now on? Better than using his name which always gets me worried about Google hits and giving him the excuse he was bound to behave the way he did from the derived verb.Mistermaumau27-12-2024
- This website needs clicks so just vacuums up what is available and loves anything that creates discussion.Mistermaumau27-12-2024
- Their battles are only interesting or special when both are in good shape and unfortunately it’s been a few years since that was last the case, road cycling tends to put an end to most side careers, MVDP still being a rare exception.Mistermaumau27-12-2024
- Hope it’s not his coz’ that’s no longer so stylish except in dubaious (sic) circles, not sure traditionally brought up people realise that yet but one day it will filter down.Mistermaumau27-12-2024
- Yes, generally Jonas is a better climber than Tadej, but he's a little lighter. This year he was much lighter than he's been since I've watching him, which I think worked against him some. I have a feeling he will bring it next year but we may see something like we saw this year. We'll have to see, can't wait for the racing to start again.awp27-12-2024
- Oh boy, here we go again, then also ask all the other what ifs, what if Merckx hadn’t been punched in the gut (probably the event that made his mind click that maybe he didn’t need « pro » cycling until the end of his relatively short career. What if he’d not have had the need or pressure to focus on GC but could just pick and choose stages like Cav. What if he’d known people would make a big thing out of that number, he’d also easily could have screwed it up to 40-45 and denied Cav what he got now.Mistermaumau27-12-2024
- I hope Van Aert can come back once more. He is one of the transcendent talents of this era, but he has had such terrible accidents. It's hard to imagine the will and dedication it takes to rehabilitate and remount.
MarkFour27-12-2024 - RIP Belgium is so dangerous for cyclists, and sooo bad at improving things.Mistermaumau27-12-2024