Only five weeks ago Magnus Backstedt was in a hospital bed undergoing surgery to repair the broken collarbone sustained in a crash at the Tour of Qatar. Bad luck has dogged the Team Slipstream/Chipotle rider over the last three years and he had been hoping for a change in fortune for 2008.

The grit and determination that the Swedish champion shows whenever one of these slight bumps is thrown at him, does nothing but enhance his reputation as one of the tough guys of the sport.

A little over 3 days after surgery Backstedt was back on his bike on the indoor trainer and now fully recovered is set to restart his season at the "Paris-Roubaix"-like GP Eroica this weekend.

"I have come back from this mishap pretty quickly, I had a great training camp down in Girona with the guys. How Mike Friedman went in Het Volk, showed how hard I worked them. In terms of power, the numbers are all there. I'm coming back with the GP Eroica on March 8 and then the 2008 Tirreno-Adriatico."

When asked about his thoughts on Italy's version of his own favourite hard mans race Paris-Roubaix, Backstedt commented "I'm not sure what to expect to be honest, but all I'll say is don't expect a 'heroic' ride from me! I just have to ease back into it and get myself used to jumping around again. The 2008 Paris-Roubaix is my number one goal and I am back on target."

Backstedt heads to Belgium this week for some testing on the cobbles near Roubaix with his Slipstream team mates, before travelling to Italy for the weekend.