FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Road Cycling - Men's Road Race - Trocadero, Paris, France - August 03, 2024. Remco Evenepoel of Belgium celebrates crossing the finish line in first place and winning the gold medal REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw/File Photo
(Reuters) - Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel said he is targeting a return to action in the Flanders Brabantse Pijl race in April, four months after a training-related crash early this month.
The 24-year-old Belgian suffered multiple injuries from the accident, including fractures to his rib, shoulder blade and hand, contusions to his lungs, and a dislocation of his right clavicle that left the surrounding ligaments torn.
Evenepoel, who according to Belgian media reports crashed into an open door of a postal vehicle while he was on a training ride in Oetingen, underwent surgery on the day of the crash.
"I feel small daily progress. In terms of exercises, I can't do anything except a little manipulation of my shoulder so that it's not too stiff," Evenepoel told Brussels newspaper La Derniere Heure in an interview published on Saturday.
"They also massage the muscles in my elbow, my arm, but that's it. And then, I still sometimes feel pain in my shoulder. This means that the injury is still healing and that it was quite serious. It's not pleasant...
"Today, I only have one idea in mind: to be at the start of the Brabantse Pijl and follow up with the three other Ardennes classics with the ambition of competing for the win."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
