World Champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pulled out of the Renewi Tour earlier than Sunday’s closing stage, involved a couple of knee ache and the impression it might have on the remainder of his 2024 season.
Van der Poel hit his knee on his handlebars in the course of the time trial on stage 2. He was capable of proceed the race till Friday however the ache didn’t subside.
“It was determined to not take any dangers in consideration of the remainder of his program,” Alpecin-Deceuninck stated.
“The final stage would have been additional hectic for the knee,” Van der Poel stated.
“So I can’t and gained’t take any threat of the damage getting worse. Very unlucky, as a result of I used to be actually wanting ahead to the final stage on the Muur of Geraardsbergen.”
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) gained the ultimate stage of the Renewi Tour from a discipline that was cut up by way of the climbs of the ultimate circuits. Tim Wellens (UAE Staff Emirates) gained the general classification.
Van der Poel is subsequent anticipated to pin on a quantity on the European Championships on September 15 in Belgium.
He’s then scheduled to journey the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg from September 18 to 22 after which the World Championships highway race on September 29, the place he might be lining up in Zurich, Switzerland to defend his rainbow jersey.
The Zurich course gives a possibility for the climbers, given it has over 4000m of elevation achieve in the course of the 274km race, making it troublesome for van der Poel to win for a second 12 months.
Van der Poel had ample early season success with wins on the E3 Saxo Traditional, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Nevertheless, the Olympic Video games did not prove to plan when Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) responded to Van der Poel’s strikes with a counter-attack and soloed to win gold because the Dutch rider completed twelfth.
The European Championships in Belgium might be an ideal alternative to take his fiftieth UCI highway win.