“He’ll be 100% ready for the Giro” - Michael Woods set to miss the Ardennes Classics to focus on the Giro d’Italia after recent viral infection
CyclingWednesday, 17 April 2024 at 02:30
Having previously finished on the podium of both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in his career, Michael Woods is set to miss this year’s races due to a recent viral infection that he is still recovering from.
The Canadian rider will be aiming to be in his best shape ahead of the first Grand Tour of the season at the Giro d’Italia next month, which will be his main objective of the season. A stage win in Italy would complete the set for Woods, as he has already won stages at both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
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Speaking on a podcast for the Belgian channel RTBF, Israel-Premier Tech sports director Rik Verbrugghe explained the decision to leave Woods out of the team, as he said “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”.
On how the team will line up for the upcoming races this week, Verbrugghe went on to say “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”.
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- If he wins the Vuelta on fumes then what has he got left for the worlds? I think the obvious decision would be not to do two GTs this year because that's just stupid. Winning the TDF, 3 monuments and the worlds is perfectly sufficient for a season.Ayrton30-04-2025
- I respect El Pistoleros comment but that is just the very basic of the least highly leveled cyclist would put in this perspective “that he must be fatigued when tdf come by July. But come to think of it.. The master tacticians of Team UEA must have definitely thought of this aspect a million times over… I see this as purely Planned. Anyone saying the Jonas or Remco or who ever can challenge him come the TDF bad things can happen in day one. That said, Pogi I believe has dialed this down since after the 2024 Il Lombarida… He was seeing already 2025 as it is now. Jus my thoughtdrkesterdmd30-04-2025
- There's a significant error in the article above, where it mentions that he didn't win Tour of Flanders. It should read Paris-Roubaix.SuperConfexYokoOno30-04-2025
- The important thing in the justification is overlooked once more, did anyone ask or even consider whether Blanka feels she is in an open relationship, and, more importantly, of her own free will or under pressure, does she have the financial independence needed to move on? All very easy to declare such a thing one-sidedly to the outside but not very smart in light of subsequent decisions.Mistermaumau30-04-2025
- It’s obvious, no? This is the new way to hide racist intentions. 100 years ago it would have been different nationalities that were mentioned but in THOSE days it was out of prudishness that media didn’t want to be seen to say something nasty, today it is a cynically calculated strategy not to be held responsible for fanning flames. Can you imagine a journalist consciously writing about some guy helping in-laws and then specifying that these in-laws are of e.g. Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Swiss, Austrian, Swedish descent? No they wouldn’t even think it would be of interest or add anything, it would look out of place and have readers asking, why is he specifying. Jewish? They wouldn’t dare. It is a subtly calculated decision that you’ve come to expect from all those people who start their “stories” with “I’ve heard” “rumour has it” “I’m not a X/Y/Z but …”Mistermaumau29-04-2025
- I don’t think anyone knows anything but it was a good guess to expect his problem would be very complex to solve and so he’d be unlikely to really compete at the highest level, just by basing his logic on the information available.Mistermaumau29-04-2025
- I only attribute quotes to what he said, the part you picked is the writer’s explanation what he was referring to without saying anything about it. That’s a lot different, not spreading any details. Besides, the journalist was caught red-handed so it’s hardly gossip or rumour but more like fact, he himself has no facts or proof about what he alleged. But to come down to the more obvious problem here, this “journalist” would never have thought of writing anything like this if Remco had married into a good blonde Flemish gene pool, although a better off Knokke type might have generated different kinds of gossip. But a bog standard nobody? Not one journalist would care if he did something for his parents-in-law.Mistermaumau29-04-2025
- They're nearly all on TUEs all the time anyway.Veganpotter29-04-2025
- Came close for Lombardia. His word here would matter if Pogi were a Grand Tour centric rider.Veganpotter29-04-2025
- He's right, but Pogi also isn't a TdF focused rider. It's just one of many goals. Contador was TdF focused and he took what else he could while keeping the TdF his focus.Veganpotter29-04-2025