The question seems more relevant than ever. After a very good start to the season which earned him a second place on the Tour of Flanders as well as a multitude of prestigious victories, the Dutchman focused on the Olympics with the goal of winning gold in the MTB event in Tokyo. A dream that quickly turned into a nightmare when the four-time cyclocross world champion made a mistake in the trajectory by forgetting to withdraw from a ramp during a fairly technical jump. There followed a heavy fall which forced him to give up.
Since then, the dutch prodigy suffers from back pain. So much so that his team today announced their package for the MTB Worlds scheduled for Val di Sole from 25 at 29 August. A new blow for the leader of the training Alpecin Fenix, who sees his entire Cross Country season wiped out.
But things could get complicated for him. Indeed, his wound dragging in length, the winner of the Tour of Flanders 2020 may be forced to end their road season prematurely, despite the presence of the road worlds and Paris Roubaix in the autumn calendar. It will of course be necessary to follow all this carefully., but things seem for the moment very badly started for the winner of the second stage of the last Tour de France.
