Laurens De Plus set for shock Tour of Flanders debut as Ineos Grenadiers suffer injury setbacks

Laurens De Plus will make his Tour of Flanders debut on Sunday after Ineos Grenadiers were forced to make changes to their initial line-up due to injuries.

Both Jhonatan Narváez and Luke Rowe crashed out of Gent-Wevelgem last Sunday and both riders face a spell on the sidelines after being diagnosed with concussions.

With Tom Pidcock training for the Ardennes and Filippo Ganna building up towards the Giro d’Italia in May, the team’s options were somewhat limited in terms of finding replacements and, although the full squad has yet to be confirmed by Ineos Grenadiers’ press machine, Laurens De Plus is set to start.

In Waregem, at the teams’ DS meeting ahead of Dwars door Vlaanderen, sports director Christian Knees confirmed De Plus’ participation in the race.

“It will be Elia Viviani racing, both Connor and Ben Swift. We also have Magnus [Sheffield], and he’s riding well, and Laurens De Plus will be there. He’s very excited and it’s his debut. He’s only raced one cobbled race in his life and he won it. It’s definitely a good team. We’re not one of the favourites but with our strengths, we can hope to play a part,” Knees told GCN.

De Plus, more known for his stage racing exploits, recently finished 16th in the Volta a Catalunya in Spain, where he helped Egan Bernal to third overall in the general classification. His one-day Monument experience has been limited to a batch of starts at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia, but as Knees pointed out, he does have experience on the cobbles - albeit only limited.

Read more: Egan Bernal 'really proud' of first WorldTour podium since life-threatening crash

On a sunny August 2019, De Plus went on the attack with Oliver Naesen and Greg van Avermaet over the Muur of Geraardsbergen during the final stage of the BinckBank Tour. De Plus finished third on the stage and claimed the overall title. It was his only overall title as a pro - so far - but an emotional one, after he dedicated the victory to his late friend, Bjorg Lambrecht, who died just a few weeks earlier.

Knees will be hoping that his cobbled-Classics rookie can add some steel to his already competitive team and help drive them to a positive result.

Narváez made the top ten in E3 Saxo Bank and was the closest rider to Mathieu van der Poel when the Dutch ride made his long-range bid for glory, while Ben Turner looked decent in Gent-Wevelgem before eventually finishing 25th. De Plus certainly isn’t a favourite for the race but he’s unlikely to be there just to make up the numbers, either.

“Obviously, with Jonny, he’s a big loss for Flanders, definitely but we have some firepower in the team still. They’ve been performing really well collectively and with someone like Ben Turner, he was doing really well in Gent-Wevelgem as well. Ben Swift was also racing well. We hope that we can fill that gap with the loss of Jonny leaving,” Knees added.

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