Boasson Hagen out of Gent-Wevelgem

Edvald Boasson Hagen may be in for similar trouble as he was in 2010 when an Achilles tendon injury made him miss out on almost all of his spring Classics campaign. The Norwegian has been suffering of Achilles pain again recently, this time on his other leg, which led to his abandon of Tirreno-Adriatico onstage five.

Even though the Sky rider came back to race Milan-San Remo last week-end, his Achilles pains continued, and he has now been ruled out of Gent-Wevelgem this upcoming Sunday.

"Edvald pulled out of Tirreno with an Achilles issue which is similar to last year but obviously we've been able to get on it a lot quicker," Team Sky's race coach Rod Ellingworth explained. "It all came about during Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne; he got caught in a bit of a crash and he rode with his shoe plate twisted and it developed from there."

Still, Boasson Hagen has been examined closely and his squad is confident he will be able to race again at the Tour of Flanders in ten days. The 23-year-old winner of the 2009 Gent-Wevelgem has been given the green light to train, for which he has returned home.

"Flanders, Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix will be his next three races and he's got 10 days now where he can prepare for them, first of all getting himself to a decent level for Flanders."

In the absence of Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas has been designated to replace him at Gent-Wevelgem. Thomas' form has been excellent, confirmed by his second place at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday.

The complete Team Sky line-up for Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem will be: Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Mathew Hayman, Greg Henderson, Jeremy Hunt, Ian Stannard, Chris Sutton and Geraint Thomas.