After the wise decision to not take part in the Giro d'Italia, I decided to head back to Sweden. Last time I was up here was in January, so it was about time I got to see my family and friends. It's been great riding up here so far, and I am also taking the opportunity to ride some mtb as well.

I will again, just like the last two years, not be participating in the Giro d'Italia. The decision was taken mutually by me and the team, simply because I am not in the condition I would need to be. The Tour de Romandie was great for me, especially as a measuring tool to see how my level was. But it also revield that I have some work to do before I am fit to fight for a top result again. I will now use the next few days on recovering from the Tour de Romandie, and then turn my focus towards getting into form whilst hopefully keeping healthy. Preliminary my next race will be Tour of Belgium last week of May.

Photo taken in Switzerland last week, leaving no doubts about where I was...

There are now two more stages remaining in this years Tour de Romandie. Today is the "kings stage", with three category one climbs to conquer. Still taking it day by day, and so far so good.

Second stage on the third day has now passed and I'm still feeling ok. I'm still being dropped in the final of the stages, but I am not lightyears away from where I would like to be. Today another not so easy stage with several climbs, another day of working my way back into shape.

The first real stage was 183 km long, with several climbs and a total climbing elevation of 2800m. I am happy to report that I am still feeling good, although I still have to point out that I know that I am behind with my preparations. What's important during this race is to see how I cope with the efforts and if I manage to recover between the stages. If so, I most likely will do the giro, knowing that I can use the first week or ten days to improve my condition to be supportive to Roman Kreuziger the last week. However, should I start feeling fatigued after a couple of days of racing here in Romandie, I probably will not participate in the giro. To mention something about my effort today, I was dropped with about 15km to go to the finish. But, I am not at all disappointed with that, instead I feel that I hopefully will have more to give day by day.

First stage here at the Tour de Romandie done. It was a 3 km individual prologue, with only one corner where you had to brake. I felt good compared to the last few months, and finishing in 63rd position is something I am ok with. Today we have a 180km stage, again for me another day to see how my body is doing after having begun my treatment for my allergy.

After a few days of feeling much better since starting my allergy treatment, I together with the team have decided to start the Tour de Romandie. Depending on my performance and sensations there, we will then decide whether I will take part of the Giro d'Italia or not. Although I feel a big difference thanks to the allergy treatment, I am still behind in my preparations due to the problems it has been causing me the last weeks.

Before going to Tenerife I did a blood test to make sure all my blood levels were good. I also did an allergy test, just to be able to exclude that this could be something which was causing my lack of energy these last few weeks. During my stay in Tenerife my test results came back. Blood levels were good, but the allergy test came back positive, meaning there was an allergic reaction going on in my body. After a quick consultation with my team I decided to leave Tenerife early and head to Milan for further tests. 

After spending the day in Milan on Wednesday we could conclude I have asthma and some kind of allergy. What I'm allergic to is yet unknown, but the important thing now is to start treating it right away. In one way I am happy to find out why I have been performing so poorly even when training and doing everything right. But on the other hand I am frustrated that I have found this out only now, causing so much frustration the last few weeks.

I will now give it the weekend to see how I feel and then take a decision on coming races. 

Until now I have been alone here on Teide, but today I get company from good friend Gustav Larsson. It will be good to get some company on the rides, although these last few days have been good for me to ride alone. I am still suffering with my breathing from my illness, so keeping the intensity low and not riding too long rides has been good for me. I will have to keep on doing these low intensity rides until I feel 100% healed, so I'm hoping things will start turning around soon.

Life is very simple up here on Teide. It's all about the job, there's nothing else to do except train, eat and recover. I'm still not feeling 100% recovered from my illness, so the combination of that and the fact that I'm in altitude means that I have to hold back these first days up here. Now it's time for another night of good sleep.