Joris Nieuwenhuis sets his sight on return to field next weekend: "Joris is doing well at the moment, but he needed a bit more time"

Joris Nieuwenhuis hasn't been able to jump onto the cyclocross season train right away, missing few of its stations due to annoying skin condition -shingles, which had been bothering him since September. But there are finally good news from the campvan of his new team - Ridley Racing Team.

Nieuwenhuis has been back on the bike since the last week of October, after which he had hoped for a comeback in the weekend of the races of Merksplas (Superprestige) and Hamme (X2O Trophy) on November 16 and 17. But according to team manager Richard Groenendaal, a conscious decision was made to postpone the return to field for another week. So will happen at the World Cup in Antwerp next Sunday.

"In itself, Joris is doing well at the moment," confirms the former world champion to WielerFlits. "Otherwise I would not be able to confirm that he will be racing again. Joris currently needs more time to become a cyclist again, next week came too soon for that. I am not going to say that he had to start from scratch after his illness. But he had to make a lot of sacrifices in terms of form and feeling."

We should not set expectations too high from the get-go. "He will definitely not be at top level in Antwerp, you certainly should not expect that. He simply needs that time to be able to train again and get into the rhythm. Then it is important not to start again too early and to build up slowly, without setting the bar too high."