Team Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan van Baarle has been ruled out of Tour of Flanders due to ‘physical problems’

Team Jumbo-Visma will be without Dylan van Baarle for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. The 30-year-old is “struggling with physical problems, and has been unable to get fit in time,” a team statement confirmed on Thursday. Ad Van Baarle came second in the Tour of Flanders last year, but was excluded from Jumbo-Visma’s lineup for Sunday’s race following a crash at the E3 Saxo Classic last Friday.

Ronde van VlaanderenAlaphilippe says three cycling stars operating 'at an exceptional level', rules out 'self-pity'A DAY AGO He was forced to miss Wednesday's Dwars door Vlaanderen in the wake of the incident and hoped to return on Sunday, but the event will come too soon. Not only were the injuries sustained from the crash a factor in his absence, but illness is another issue specified by team director Maarten Wynants. «It's not that he has specific disease or something but he doesn't feel at the 100% you need for the Tour of Flanders,» Wynants told CyclingNews.

«He some abrasions at the hip and knee and to try to recover from that he got a little bit ill. “When you have to recover from a hard crash it takes energy out of the body then it costs you through illness later on. That's just my opinion.» Van Baarle — who kicked off Jumbo-Visma's golden 2023 cobbled Classics campaign at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last month — favours the longer Classics like Sunday’s race, according to team leader Wout van Aert.

«Dylan not being in the selection on Sunday is a loss for the team,” Van Aert said. “It's unfortunate, but his health comes first. “He is consistently one of the better riders in the longer Classics, such as the Tour of Flanders.