Michael Woods out of Ardennes Classics due to effects of recent virus

Israel-Premier Tech sports manager Rik Verbrugghe has revealed that Canada’s Michael Woods will not ride La Flèche Wallonne and  Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the team instead set to be built around 2022 Flèche winner Dylan Teuns and Tour Down Under winner Stephen Williams.

This year’s La Flèche Wallonne will see the peloton tackle the famous leg-breaking finish up the Mur de Huy four times for the first time. The mid-week Classic covers a hilly 199.1km including ascents of the 1.3km, 9.6% Mur de Huy after 104.1km, 135.8km, 167.5km and at the finish.

Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) are expected to be contenders for victory on Wednesday.

Cyclingnews understands that Woods has been slowed by a virus in recent weeks but is likely to be back on form in time for the Giro d’Italia. 

Woods has an impressive series of results in the Ardennes Classics, finishing fourth, sixth, fourth and third in recent editions of Flèche Wallonne. He has finished in the top ten at Liège-Bastogne-Liège six times, including second to Bob Jungels in 2018.

"He raced the Volta a Catalunya but something was wrong, so we’ve decided to leave him at home. He will not ride La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège,” Verbrugghe told the podcast of Belgian television channel RTBF.  

“Without him, we’ll focus on backing Dylan Teuns and Stephen Williams, who could really create a surprise on the Mur de Huy. 

“We’ll miss the presence of Michael Woods but he'll be 100% ready for the Giro.” 

The full Israel-Premier Tech line-up for Flèche Wallonne has still to be confirmed but is expected to be a strong team featuring  Nick Schultz, Jakob Fugslang, Jake Stewart, Simon Clarke and George Bennett.