Greg Van Avermaat, who had dreamed of winning the Tour de Flanders, a race he has competed in every year since turning pro in 2007, has decided against competing in the 2020 event. The Belgian, who was injured in a crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, said the choice was "one of the most difficult decisions of my racing career."

Van Avermaat suffered a separated shoulder and three broken ribs after crashing into an unprotected sign post on a traffic island midway through Liege-Bastogne-Liege. More seriously, he suffered a mild pneumothorax (a partially collapsed lung) and a fracture of the transverse process of the first thoracic vertebra, which ruled him out of the race.

"I guess my heart is saying one thing and my head is saying another, but in the end I know that not racing on Sunday is the wisest choice," Van Avermaat said. [The legs feel really good and I think I can get a good result with these legs, but it's too risky. I had a good feeling in today's Rikon, but after an hour I started to feel pain.

Van Avermaat has won Paris-Roubaix, Ghent-Wevelgem, E3 Harelbeke, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but Belgium's biggest cobbled classic has been away for 13 seasons, with two second places in 2017 and 2014 and a third in 2015 His best result was a second place in 2017 and 2014, and a third place in 2015.

"The Ronde van Vlaanderen is not just a race to improve your position or to finish in 50th place. My dream is to win Ronde van Vlaanderen, but it won't happen in 2020. I want to focus on my recovery now and give my body the best chance to heal for the 2021 season."

With Van Avermaat sidelined, the CCC team will support Matteo Trentin, who has performed well in this late-season, upside-down coronavirus-induced classic schedule, including a third-place finish at Ghent-Wevelgem last week.

"I'm in good shape. 'We had a good reconnaissance today, we rotated the legs and got a taste of the cobblestones. Of course, I didn't take my usual approach like in other cobblestone classics.

"To win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, you have to be the smartest in the bunch. Some riders, like Wout Van Aert and Julien Alaphilippe, probably have slightly better legs than others, but behind them there are eight to ten guys who can win, so it's very wide open. We are going to be part of that mix."

"The team did a really good job in Ghent-Wevelgem. In a race like this it is important to save your legs and be fresh when the race starts. Especially this year, the races are shorter, so I think we will see some aggressive racing afterwards. We've been racing at full throttle in every race, and I think we're going to see a lot of aggressive racing after that.

Tour of Flanders CCC Team: Jonas Koch, Michael Scheer, Matteo Trentin, Gijs Van Hecke, Nathan Van Hooydonk, Guillaume Van Kersburg, Francisco Ventoso