Training crash leaves Eenkhoorn with suspected collarbone fracture

Pascal Eenkhoorn’s preparations for the start of the new season and his Classics campaign have received a blow after the Jumbo-Visma rider suffered a crash that left him with a suspected collarbone fracture.

Eenkhoorn was training in Spain with his team when the accident occurred. The Dutchman was practising an uphill sprint when his chain snapped, sending him over his handlebars and into a verge on the side of the road.

While waiting for help, Eenkhoorn took a picture of his strewn bike still lying in the grass and a picture of his left shoulder, which showed what appeared to be his collarbone sticking upwards, and posted it to his Twitter feed.

"Unfortunately crashed hard today while doing a sprint uphill," he wrote. "My chain broke and I ended up flipping over and fell a few meters down. Some serious damage but still unknown how long I’ll be out of running. Want to thank @cyclesierra & @JumboVismaRoad for the care taking."

The 21-year-old Eenkhoorn was due to start his second season with Jumbo-Visma team and target Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the start of March. With close to two months before the race, a broken collarbone would not necessarily rule him out of making his season debut. However, it would seriously hinder his preparations.

Eenkhoorn joined the Jumbo-Visma team last season and rode a reduced Classics campaign, making his debuts at the Tour of Flanders and the Paris-Roubaix. He is set to return to the two Monuments on top of a full cobbles programme.

Jumbo-Visma’s Classics ambitions will centre largely around Wout van Aert, who joined the team a year earlier than expected after he cut short his contract with Nick Nuyens’ Sniper Cycling. The team also has last year’s Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne winner Dylan Groenewegen and Danny van Poppel in their arsenal.