Ben Healy will be absent from today's Amstel Gold Race and from the other two Ardennes Classics, with the Irish Tour de France star suffering a fracture to a bone at the base of his spine.
Healy will aim for the Tour again this year but the trio of Ardennes races were also important targets.
He has a strong record in the events, netting second in the 2021 Amstel Gold, plus third and fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2025 and 2023, respectively.
He was also fifth in last year’s Flèche Wallonne.
The EF Education EasyPost professional was building steadily towards a peak in form but despite finishing the recent Itzulia Basque Country race, a crash before the opening time trial of that race has proven to be more significant than first thought.
"This week, Ben’s pain increased, so we decided to take him for an MRI," explained EF Pro Cycling head doctor Jon Greenwell. "Those scans came back with a non-displaced sacral fracture that will not require surgery.
"Since he is unable to ride comfortably, we decided that it is best for him to have some time off to prevent any long term complications or other injuries that might occur whilst trying to work around this injury."
Healy is deeply disappointed to withdraw from the events but is a realist.
"It’s gutting," the 25-year-old said. "I’ve just got to roll with the punches. I’m trying not to think about it too much, but it’s going to suck to watch the Ardennes and not be a part of it. That’s bike racing. It just is what it is.
"At Itzulia, I thought I was getting better throughout the race, and I thought not too much damage was done. It wasn’t really until I got home that it really started to give me some grief.
"Since getting home, I haven’t been able to ride. Obviously, we needed to find out what was causing the pain."
That pain prompted him to get the MRI scans and they in turn revealed the nature of the problem. Thankfully he needs rest rather than surgery.
"The bone that I fractured is a pretty insignificant bone, so as soon as I don’t have pain, then I should be able to ride as I wish," he explained. "It’s the pain that we’re worried about and the risk that I could give myself a secondary injury.
"As soon as there’s no pain, then hopefully we’ll be on track for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Tour. We just need to see how recovery goes first."
Dr Greenwell said Healy should be able to return to training in approximately two weeks and to then begin his build-up towards the Tour de France.
He won a stage in last year’s Tour, took the yellow jersey and finished ninth overall in Paris.
He then went on to take the bronze medal in the road world championships, the best Irish result since Sean Kelly finished third in 1989.
