Philippe Gilbert will miss this week’s Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège due to a tear in one of his kidneys following a crash on his way to winning Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.
The news, revealed by his Quick Step Floors team, means the Belgian will not get the chance of repeating his achievement from 2012 when he became just the second man ever to win all three Ardennes Classics in the same year.
Winner of the Tour of Flanders earlier this month, the former world champion has been one of the standout riders of the 2017 Spring Classics season.
> Philippe Gilbert wins a dramatic 101st Tour of Flanders
However, his injury, diagnosed during a hospital visit after his victory on Sunday, means his campaign has been cut short, with the 34-year-old needing a week’s rest.
"When I crashed, I felt pain, but once I remounted and continued the race things became better and better and the pain disappeared,” said Gilbert.
“Unfortunately, after the finish, the lower back pain returned, so together with the team doctor I decided to go to the hospital for a check-up.
“Fortunately, it's nothing serious, and if everything goes well, in a week I will start training again.”
Looking back on a Spring campaign in which he became only the third man ever to win the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race in the same season, he said: "It's one of my best years and looking behind on what I achieved makes me very happy.
“To be competitive in both the cobbled and the Ardennes Classics and to help the team be the best in the world brings me a lot of satisfaction.
“It's sad I won't be there for the remaining races of this week, because I was in great condition, but our squad is a strong one and I'm confident other good results will follow," he added.
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Meanwhile, on the footy pitch, someone fell over and everyone had to stop and have a little argument while he peered between his fingers to see if they were still watching. Later, some of them who were a little bit tired were allowed to go home and others came on instead to see if they could do any better because they weren't tired like the rest. They only had to run around for 10 minutes but it still didn't make any difference.
"It's a sporting world of two halves" said someone chewing gum during an interview later that afternoon.
He managed to ride 150km with it, dust Kwiato in the sprint then dust him again in the secondary podium beer chugging competition. Hard day out for the kidney.
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Ouch!
Apparently it "isn't serious" to have a kidney tear. Sounds a bit serious to me!
I had a grade 4/5 kidney laceration, nearly died and only just started training after half a year with partial kidney function, a bag full of symptoms from head injury, shoulder and stress. One week of rest is not serious.