Team RadioShack's Gert Steegmans and Tomas Vaitkus will both participate in this coming weekend's Belgian spring classic races Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, which will open the 2010 Northern European cycling season.

Their participation was questionable after crashes in the third and first stages of last week's Volta ao Algarve/Tour of Algarve.

Gert Steegmans suffered a concussion after landing on his head in stage three. After three days of rest he did a 50 kilometer training ride on Tuesday, followed by a 6 hour training ride on Wednesday. According to himself, he finished both rides without experiencing any headache.

"Since Monday I have had no headaches. The nausea has disappeared too," Steegmans commented. "The doctors advised me to wait an extra day and to stay in the dark to take no risks.  Though - as everyone joked - I could not have a concussion because of a lack of brains in my head! The two training rides have convinced me that I am able to play a role in both weekend races. My good condition cannot be completely gone.  The only thing that worries me a bit is the stiffness in my neck and upper leg but that is not the end of the world.  I can deal with it."

Tomas Vaitkus, who landed on his shoulder when crashing last week, kept his shoulder immobilized for a few days. Though his shoulder injury still causes some pain, Vaitkus will risk race participation.

"In Russia there we have a saying ‘One who doesn't take a risk, will not drink champagne'.  So I will start," Vaitkus commented and added "In the past two-to-three days I have less pain, but it is still present.  On the other hand, I was able to ride 180 kilometers today on the bike.  I am confident of a better 2010 than 2009, certainly with less crashes anyway."

In last year's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Vaitkus was on his way to a top-5 finish when he was unable to avoid the crash of another rider in the final sprint and fractured a bone in his right elbow. Better luck this time Tomas.

The Team RadioShack line-up for the next races:

2010 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Bel), 27/02/2010
Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Daryl Impey, Gregory Rast, Sébastien Rosseler, Bjorn Selander, Gert Steegmans & Tomas Vaitkus
Sports Director: Dirk Demol

2010 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Bel), 28/02/2010
Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Daryl Impey, Gregory Rast, Sébastien Rosseler, Bjorn Selander, Gert Steegmans & Tomas Vaitkus
Sports Director: Dirk Demol