Francesco Masciarelli ends his 2012 season with no confirm date of his return
Italian cyclist Francesco Masciarelli of Team Astana has to end his 2012 season earlier than planned after discovering a benign tumour on the pituitary gland in his brain.
The 26-year-old started his professional crusade with Team Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo in 2007 and spent a period of three years with the side.
He helped the side with two stages and an overall victory at the Tour of Japan 2007, a first place finish during the Giro del Lazio including a stage 5 win at the Tour Mediterraneen 2010.
The cyclist accepted an offer from Team Astana in 2011 and is continuing his second consecutive season with the team.
The health constraints restricted Francesco from performing to his calibre and he is not seen on his bike since the UCI Inaugural event, the Santos Tour Down Under.
He finished the race at the 71st overall position after the final general classifications with a total deficit of 22 minutes and 30 seconds behind the race leader Simon Gerrans of Team Orica GreenEdge.
Alejandro Valverde of Team Movistar achieved the second position with Tiago Machado of Team RadioShack-Nissan, Michael Rogers of Team Sky and Rohan Dennis of Team UNI SA-Australia securing the next three spots.
Francesco was diagnosed with a microadenoma earlier on and is still under treatment as reported by Tuttobiciweb.it.
"When I put my body under physical strain, it suffers too much stress because the hormones do not work as they should and it causes a failure”.
“I consulted several doctors and thanks to the collaboration of doctors in the centre of the Olympic Committee (CONI) we are trying to find a solution to this unfortunate situation".
The cyclist is still not certain as to when he will return back to the peloton because there is no plan for his treatment finalised yet.
“I think this season is over now, considering my condition and my inability to compete,” Masciarelli cited.
“I did not want to be a burden for those who gave me confidence and have been very sympathetic towards me in this situation".
Francesco has now terminated his contract after realising his physical health constraints and noted that he do not want to be a burden on his side.
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