Florence is a no go

He delayed the decision until the last moment since he was hopeful that his health would improve. “I spent a week riding in Italy but I noticed that I wasn’t making any progress. On Monday I did a hard training session but I still felt that something was missing. In the end, the training data simply proved the point,” said Roman. He discussed the final decision even with the Saxo-Tinkoff sports director Bjarne Riis. “Bjarne told me that if I didn’t feel up to it then there was no point in participating. I will be better off quitting the season. I´m going to ride until the end of the next week and then I will take the whole October off,” revealed Roman He regrets not to be able participate in the Worlds. “…but, on the other hand, I didn’t want to go there just to be a part of the team. The circuit is quite difficult and it should normally suit me but with my current shape, it would be one big torture for me. It is useless to participate in a road race and worry about whether I actually will be able to finish or not. Over the years in my pro career I have learned to recognize when I can aim for a good result and when not. Unfortunately, after the Vuelta I didn´t bounce back the way I had imagined and I think I made the right decision. I didn´t want to delay the decision so I called our national coach Rene Andrle so that he could find a replacement rider for me who might then gain some experience at the Worlds.”