Stewart returns after Crohn's diagnosis

Young Brit says he can still race at the top level

- Vern Pitt

Young British rider Jake Stewart is confident he can still achieve his potential in the sport despite a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, which destroyed his Spring Classics campaign.

The Groupama-FDJ rider revealed last week he had been diagnosed with the lifelong condition, which causes inflammation in the intestines, after first experiencing stomach cramps on a training camp in Spain in January.

He told Cycling Weekly: “The night before I flew out, I’d had a stir-fry for dinner. And I was convinced I’d given myself food poisoning. My guts were all over the place but it didn’t really come to anything, just kind of stomach cramps, and a bit of a dodgy belly.”

The 22-year-old said that the worst his guts got was him needing the toilet in a hurry, cramping and feeling bloated but his symptoms weren’t overly dramatic.

“I got through the first three days [of the training camp] on fairly limited resources, I wasn’t eating great just because my stomach was playing up and I wasn’t sleeping great because I was in a lot of pain and cramping,” he said, saying the pain would get better by the morning but as soon he ate again it would come back.

Comfort zone

“I could ride in Zone one or two no problem but anything harder than that [wasn’t possible],” he said.