Belgium's Ben Hermans (Israel Startup Nation) returned to outdoor training two weeks ago, but before rehabbing from a major crash at the Tour Down Under in January in which he suffered a compound shoulder fracture, a broken collarbone, and broken ribs, he is He is expected to undergo another shoulder surgery.

The Tour of Utah winner posted an image of his ride outside on Instagram, saying, "Trying to build my form again and get comfortable with my shoulder. It's not that easy and as expected it's difficult. Soon I will be able to have the shoulder re-injured and begin the final stages of rehabilitation."

Hellmans was involved in a pile-up with Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), and Raphael Valls (Bahrain McLaren) on the second stage of the Tour Down Under, and after eight weeks of rehabilitation he was allowed out was allowed to drive outside.

When he returned to the bike earlier this month due to a coronavirus outbreak, he said he was "not stressed for an early return because who knows when normal life and racing will continue."

In Belgium, people are still allowed to ride outside, but have been asked to limit travel between areas to slow the spread of the virus. Hermans said, "I exercise every day to keep my spirit up."

The 33-year-old said after Paris-Nice that "it's very hard to see all the hard work I did in November, December, and January pay off and see all the other racers racing."

Since then, however, most races, including the Giro d'Italia, have been postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic, and the Tour de France will decide "privately" in mid-April whether to proceed with the 2020 race.