Quick Step rider Dries Devenyns has declared himself fit to ride Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne, despite being taken to hospital after a crash in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. “I’m still a little stiff in the muscles of my neck, ribs and abdomen,” said the 26-year-old Belgian to Sporza. “It could be better. But all in all, it is still relatively good.”
“The blow was divided between my hip, ribs, shoulder, elbow and hand, and the bigger the surface the better,” he said of his injuries, adding that martial arts training had helped him to fall properly. “I learned from lessons in judo,” he said.
Despite the crash and hospitalisation, Devenyns still holds ambitions to do well in this year’s Ardennes classics, building on his strong tenth-place finish at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country). With just four days to recover from his crash though, he conceded that Wednesday’s race may be a little soon to expect too much. “I will start in the Flèche Wallonne,” he confirmed, “but with less ambition than usual. Hopefully, I’ll be fully recovered for Sunday”
Devenyn’s crash at first looked serious enough for him to be hospitalised straight away; it soon transpired that he was not badly hurt. “Somebody in front of me slowed down and I couldn’t avoid the crash,” he told the team’s website from the hospital. “Now I’ve got pain on my shoulders, but it seems that I am ok. Together with the team medical staff we will make an evaluation tomorrow morning. I was lucky today. The consequences could be even worse than this…”
That evaluation has now been performed and Devenyns will take the start in Charleroi, Belgium on Wednesday, but with his sights set on Liège-Bastogne-Liège this coming Sunday.