Chloé Dygert has recovered from an early-season injury and will begin racing at the Classic Brugge-De Panne with Canyon-SRAM on Thursday.
Dygert, the reigning road and time trial US champion and time trial World Champion, was initially expected to begin her season at the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Road Race but did not make the trip to Australia due to what the team called a 'minor injury'.
"I had a minor setback in December that delayed my start to racing in 2024. In the end, it was a hidden blessing. It's given me a better lead into my major goals for the season," Dygert said in a team press release.
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"So I'm happy with the progress I've made to this point. I'm excited to pin a number on my back again. It's always hard to determine your fitness level until you are actually competing. Right now, I'm grateful that I'm healthy and have the ability to race."
Dygert did not travel to Australia for early-season racing and instead took time to recover from her injury and then took part in a training camp in Spain.
She has competed in just one Classics event during her four-year term with Canyon-SRAM, riding at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2022. However, she ended up suffering from leg pain following that race, and then spent 14 months recovering from a variety of health issues, including follow-up treatments for injuries sustained in a major crash in the 2020 World Championships, Epstein Barr virus, and heart surgery to treat a longstanding tachycardia issue.
Back to racing full-time last year, Dygert started her season in May at the Vuelta a Femenina securing three podium finishes. She was also fourth overall at Vuelta a Burgos, second overall at RideLondon, won the road and time trial titles at the US Pro National Championships, added two podiums at the Giro d'Italia, and finished the season winning the time trial world title in Glasgow.
Dygert will now make her debut for the season at Classic Brugge-De Panne, where she will line up with Zoe Bäckstedt, Justyna Czapla, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Alice Towers and Maike van der Duin.
She expects the race to be challenging even without SD Worx-Protime, which pulled out of the race due to multiple rider injuries.
"I know De Panne can be a windy race, and a sprint or solo attack can win. With SD Worx not attending, it will be a different race, even if the parcours were the same," Dygert said.
"It will be interesting to see how the day plays out. The harder the race the better for me. Ultimately, we're here to win and will do whatever we can to work as a team to win the race."
The team will have two major cards to play with Dygert and Van der Duin, who finished third at both Ronde van Drenthe and Gent-Wevelgem, and seventh at Brugge-De Panne last year.
Van der Duin has also recovered from an injury having fractured her ankle during the team's training camp in California in December.
"After I broke my ankle in early December, it was uncertain how long the recovery would take. We've made a plan together, and I'm really thankful for the team around me that has helped during my rehabilitation. I've worked really hard the past weeks to come back, and I am motivated to be on the start line with the team," Van der Duin said.
"The weather is looking quite good for Thursday, which means many different scenarios can happen. We're prepared for all of them. This year's De Panne is my first race of the year, and I'm entering it with a blank card. We will give 200% as a team to get the win."
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