De Waele is not quite happy with his season yet. "I barely raced 60 kilometres so far," he said. "I crashed in the opening race La Marseillaise and suffered injuries to a few ribs." After three days he was back on the bike. "Just when I was pain-free, I started having problems with my right knee." He had to take seven days off completely and is only able to ride since last Thursday. "The pain is not gone completely, but the doctors gave me the green light."
De Waele will be part of a strong Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team that also includes David Boucher, who was in the first break in the Omloop and finished 13th. Frédéric Amorison is also nominated; he was chasing with Nick Nuyens (Rabobank) and Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) after the Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team) and Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) pair. Amorison ended the race in sixth place.
The rest of the team had a solid Flandrian weekend as well. Kevin Neirynck, Koen Barbé, Filip Meirhaeghe and Geert Verheyen all finished in the first chase group on Saturday, 45 seconds behind the winners. Denis Flahaut completes the team.
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