After having his arm broken in an altercation with SANParks officials in December last year, South African cyclist Nic Dlamini makes his return to the sport at the Vuelta a Burgos this week.
Dlamini heads to the five-day Spanish stage race starting on 28 July.
Dlamini feels he is in a good place.
He said:
“I think at the moment I’m actually feeling like I am going to hit the best form of my life.”
After recovering from broken arm, the South African attended his first training in preparation for the return of pro-cycling events.
“To be honest for me the training camp was one of the things I was looking forward to. I couldn’t imagine what racing was going to be like. Going into a race with staff I have never met. And obviously I missed a few training camps earlier in the year and late last year. So, it was nice getting to see the new staff as well and also meet Bjarne Riis.”
Dlamini added that Riis, the team manager, had made an impact.
“He’s really a nice guy. We all learnt so much from him. He used his experience and basically taught us new stuff every day. Even the senior guys weren’t complaining, saying ‘I have done this before,’ everyone was open minded in learning from him.”
He also said his return to cycling was welcomed by everyone.
“The rest of the staff were also very friendly and kind. And the whole staff gave a hundred percent support, as well as the riders; so, it’s really nice to see that. The whole team, not just the riders, the staff is really hyped up to start getting back into racing.”
