Remco Evenepoel's recovery from a crash last month, when he was knocked off by an opening car door has hit a bump in the road, after doctors diagnosed nerve damage from a recent scan.
The Olympic champion revealed at the weekend that a scan had shown that a nerve in his injured shoulder had been affected by the crash, and that his recovery would take longer than expected.
The issue was rendering the outer muscles of his shoulder "a bit inactive", he told Sporza's Sportweekend. "We have to work very hard to give those muscles stimuli and let them live. So it will take a bit longer than hoped."
“We don’t know yet whether this will have an effect on the spring Classics,” added Evenepoel, who accepted his fourth Belgian sportsman of the year title at the weekend.
He is due to make his comeback in Brabantse Pijl in April, before going on to ride the Amstel Gold Race, Fléche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but clarified: “We are still assuming the Brabantse Pijl as the starting date, but we can always move it if necessary.
"Fortunately, the Tour de France is still a long way off. That will definitely go ahead, but I have to see in what condition I can start the Ardennes.”
Despite the nerve issue, Evenepoel went ahead with a first ride back on the rollers at the weekend as planned, according to a report from DH Les Sports. He rode for an hour on Zwift, at an average of 181 watts – a modest level at which he is unlikely to stay for long.
The incident took place at the beginning of December, with the Belgian unable to avoid colliding with the door of a Belgian postal vehicle when it opened in front of him.
"I only know that someone opened his door and Remco crashed into it," Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere told Sporza at the time. "Such accidents unfortunately happen five times a day."
Evenepoel described the injuries, which were extensive, on social media after undergoing an operation shortly after the incident: "…a fracture to my rib, shoulder blade, hand, contusions to my lungs and a dislocation of my right clavicle which has caused all surrounding ligaments to be torn."
