Alberto Bettiol back for Tour of Flanders after E3 Saxo Classic crash

Italian is set to lead EF Education-EasyPost at the race he won in 2019 after recovering from his recent crash

08:27, Tuesday 26th March 2024

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Alberto Bettiol has recovered from his crash in time for the Tour of Flanders

Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) will return to competition this week after crashing out of the E3 Saxo Classic last Friday.

The Italian was forced to miss Gent-Wevelgem at the weekend as a result of his superficial injuries but returned to training on Monday, completing a five-hour ride in Belgium. He will now lead the line for the American squad at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday before following up with Sunday’s Monument, the Tour of Flanders.

Bettiol came into the lions-share of the Belgian cobbled Classics as a major rider to watch after his fine solo win in Milano-Torino and fifth-placed finish in Milan-San Remo. However, the 2019 Tour of Flanders winner's crash saw his campaign derailed after he hit the deck and then subsequently quit E3.

“He’s not as injured as we originally feared. On Monday he was set to do a long five-hour ride and he came through that well. From that, we’ve made the call. If today went well then he’d race on Wednesday and then definitely the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. He’s not too messed up from that crash,” team boss Jonathan Vaughters told GCN.

The American team have started the season in rude health, winning six races across South America and Europe, but with Neilson Powless only just returning from a spot on the sidelines and Rui Costa still out with a broken collarbone, the team’s Classics aspirations have needed to be tempered.

That said, the return of Bettiol comes at a perfect time for the squad. The squad for Dwars door Vlaanderen also includes Michael Valgren, Stefan Bissegger, who was 12th in Gent-Wevelgem, and Jonas Rutsch.

“With Neilson out, and Rui, we have one leader. With Flanders, we originally thought that we had quite a complete team, with Rui, Neilson and Bettiol. If they were all firing on all cylinders it would be a really competitive Flanders team but as it is, it’s all around Bettiol now,” added Vaughters.