Bert de Waele does not feel like laughing these days, missing two important races (Image credit: Bjorn Haake)
Bert de Waele of Landbouwkrediet-Colnago will not be able to race in the Belgian Classics opening races this weekend. The 32-year-old suffers from an inflammation in his knees. De Waele is out for 10 days.
The team's doctor said there are no worries in the long run, but racing this weekend would not be advisable. De Waele crashed in the Etoile de Bessèges and then had to cancel his plans to race Tour du Haut Var due to the same knee problem.
His scheduled programme would see De Waele race the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (March 6-8) next.
The Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team will send the following squads to the weekend races:
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Saturday): Sébastien Delfosse, Frédéric Amorison, Koen Barbé, David Boucher, Filip Meirhaeghe, Kevin Neirynck, Bert Scheirlinckx and Geert Verheyen. Directeur Sportif will be Gino Verhasselt.
Beverbeek Classic (Saturday): Rob Peeters, Dirk Bellemakers, Benjamin Gourgue, Jonathan Bertrand and Denis Flahaut. Directeur Sportif is Jef De Bilde.
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Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Sunday): Denis Flahaut, Dirk Bellemakers, Frédéric Amorison, Koen Barbé, Filip Meirhaeghe, Benjamin Gourgue and Bert Scheirlinckx. Directeur Sportif is Claude Vancoillie
