The major contenders missing the Tour of Flanders 2022

Tour of Flanders absentees 2022
Sagan, Van Aert, and Vanmarcke are two of the contenders who won't be able to race this year (Image credit: Sprint/Getty Images/Composite)

Sunday's Tour of Flanders will bring the cream of the crop of the cobbled Classics specialists together as top riders from the spring Classics come together to do battle over 272km of hard racing (158km for the women) on the cobbles and hills of Flanders.

But not every Classics star will be lining up for the race towards Oudenaarde on Sunday morning. Illness and injury have seen several contenders and key riders put out of action ahead of the Tour of Flanders.

A handful of major contenders have dropped out ahead of the race, as well as several notable outsiders, with overall favourite Wout van Aert the latest name confirmed to be missing Flanders on Friday.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.