The race was virtual, but the effort was real, and the victory was a tangible sign of progress for Michael Woods. A little more than four months after breaking his femur in Paris-Nice, Canadian Woods proved his rapid recovery from a career-threatening injury by winning the fifth stage of the virtual Tour de France on Saturday.

After surgery, Woods' first tentative ride was on Zwift in early April. On Saturday, the EF Pro Cycling rider took on Mont Ventoux on the platform's virtual rendering, averaging 6.7w/kg to pull away from the NTT duo of Domenico Pozzovivo and Louis Maintus to win the pixelated Chalet Reynard.

Not quite the real thing, but a promising harbinger for Woods two weeks before Strade Bianche. The Tuscan event is Woods' first race since his injury and the first on the World Tour calendar after a lengthy hiatus due to a coronavirus outbreak.

"I think it was a confidence booster," Woods said. "My coach, Paul Saldaña, and I have seen a huge improvement in my performance over the past month. I had similar numbers to what I was putting up before the crash, so we both knew I was fit and started to get excited about the upcoming races.

In addition to the power meter numbers, Woods was able to gauge his form in a more empirical but encouraging way at the team training camp in Andorra last week. I'm in really good shape when I'm able to get up hills with Hugh," Woods said. So my form is really good, and I'm happy with my comeback," Woods said."

Before his injury, Woods would have been a certainty for the EF Pro Cycling squad for the Tour de France, which has been rescheduled from August 29 to September 20, but his schedule after the first three races has not yet been set: Strade Bianche (August 1), Milan-San Remo (August 8), and Il Lombardia (August 15).

"Right now, the team is taking it one race at a time," Woods said. We're going to try to get a good result," Woods said. We're on the registration list [for the Tour de France], but we want to see how it goes. It's too far out to make any big predictions right now."

Speaking to reporters via Zoom after his win at Zwift on Saturday, Woods said the lowest point of his rest was right after his crash on March 12. 'It was very traumatic,' he said. 'Lying on the side of the road, looking at the state of my legs, I was worried about my career, not just in future races, but in cycling in general. It was terrifying."

At that point, he assumed that the injury would rule out his first two goals for the year, the Tour and the Tokyo Olympics, and greatly hurt his prospects of being competitive in his third goal, the world championships in Martigny.

However, Paris-Nice was the last event on the World Tour calendar before the long interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Olympics were postponed to 2021. The news that he could still plan to win an Olympic medal boosted Woods' morale as he began his difficult rehabilitation.

Coincidentally, the 12-month postponement also encouraged his former University of Michigan track and field teammate, Irishman Ciaran O'Lionard, to come back from early retirement and try to qualify for the 1500m in Tokyo. in early May, Spain relaxed its restrictions on coronavirus and Woods was given permission to train outdoors.

"My three biggest goals in my career were right around the corner: the Olympics, the Tour, and the World Championships. 'The Olympics were postponed and so was the Tour. Every day I worked hard with Richard Spink, a physiotherapist living in Spain.

"It made it easier to get through this dark period because I knew I was getting better day by day. I was able to stay mentally positive.

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