Chavanel withdraws from Dwars door Vlaanderen due to cold picked up in Milan-Sanremo

Defending champion Niki Terpstra returns for Omega Pharma Quick Step

Sylvain ChavanelOne of the strongest riders in Milan Sanremo, Sylvain Chavanel, has decided not to compete in tomorrow’s Dwars door Vlaanderen as a result of a slight illness he picked up in Sunday’s race.

His team has announced that he will miss the race because of a cold, which it states was ‘due to the extreme weather conditions last Sunday at Milano – Sanremo.’

Chavanel attacked with several others on the Cipressa and then pressed onwards with Ian Stannard (Team Sky). The duo led over the top of the Poggio but were caught on the descent by those chasing behind. Chavanel opened up the sprint but had to be content with fourth place; however he had the considerable consolation of taking over the lead of the UCI’s WorldTour.

He was second in last year’s race and played a big part in helping team-mate Niki Terpstra to win. Although he won’t now race tomorrow his team expects that he will take the start in Friday’s E3 Prijs Harelbeke.

However the team still has hopes of a strong performance in the Dwars door Vlaanderen; defending champion Terpstra has recovered from Milan-Sanremo and he is feeling ambitious. “I won last year, which was great. I will try again, and it will be special also to be at the start with the Dutch Champion jersey and the race number one,” he said.

“I think it will be emotional for me at the start. The weather will probably be different than last year, but still shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t like snow, but have no problem with rain.”

The 201kilometre race will give a good picture of who is in form heading towards the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. It includes thirteen climbs in all, namely the Nieuwe Kwaremont, Kattenberg, Leberg, Berendries, Valkenberg, Eikenberg, Steenbeekdries, Knokteberg, Oude-Kwaremont, Paterberg, Vossenhol, Holstraat and Nokereberg.

“Only Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh rode Milano – Sanremo, so the other riders at this race will be fresh,” said directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters. “Gert Steegmans will be at the start after dealing with some soreness problems on his knee. As usual the crucial points of the race will be the Paterberg and the Oude-Kwaremont.

“However, another key factor will be the weather. They forecasted 6 degrees and rain, so it will be a completely different race than the sunny weather of last year.”

Also riding for the team will be Nikolas Maes, Frantisek Rabon, Guillaume Van Keirsbulk and Kirstof Vandewalle.