Nuyens out of Tour of Flanders

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Former Tour of Flanders winner Nick Nuyens has been ruled out of this year’s race due to flu. The 2011 winner has struggled for form and results in recent years but Garmin-Sharp come into Sunday’s race with  Sebastian Langeveld and Johan Vansummeren as their main cards to play.

“I know he is 100 percent ready. It's difficult because this race holds a special place in my heart but I have confidence this is the right decision and I have worked closely with the team to determine it. For now I will recover and focus on the next set of races. The Flanders team is strong and while I am upset not to be there with them, I am confident they will do a great race."

The loss of Nuyens has been somewhat off-set by the Steele Von Hoff linking up with the team but the squad as a whole have been short of results so far this spring, with only Farrar picking up a podium spot in the main one-day races. The American was second in Dwars door Vlaanderen.

"We have a strong team lined up for Flanders – guys like Johan, Sebastian, David [Millar] and Tyler [Farrar] have many years of experience and have done great things in this race," said Andreas Klier.

"We are excited for Sunday and look forward to a strong team performance."