Deceuninck-QuickStep's Yves Lampaert will miss the upcoming Tour de France as a result of breaking his collarbone in a crash at Milano-Torino on Wednesday, but what was apparently a clean, uncomplicated break means that the former Belgian road race champion will be back racing in the bunch in a little over a month, ready for a tilt at his season's biggest goals in October: the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
"It was a clean break," Lampaert said, according to Het Nieuwsblad on Thursday. "I'll now take my time to rehabilitate and hope to be back in the peloton within four to five weeks. So, no Tour de France, but the cobbled Classics in October will still be my big goal – albeit with a different approach, but I'll make it work."
Lampaert was assessed by team doctor Toon Claes at hospital in Herentals on Thursday after returning to Belgium from Italy, and it was decided that the 29-year-old would not require surgery, and will instead rest and rehabilitate with a view to a return to racing in just over a month's time.
Immediately after his crash on Wednesday, Lampaert's attention turned not to his own injury but to the medical condition and wellbeing of Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Fabio Jakobsen, who crashed during the bunch-sprint finish to stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne the same afternoon.
"Everything will be fine, and what my good friend Fabio is experiencing is much worse," Lampaert said of his Dutch teammate, who remains stable in hospital in Poland.
Het Nieuwsblad speculated that Lampaert's route to late October's rescheduled 'spring' Classics – with Flanders taking place on October 18 and Roubaix on October 25 – could come via Tirreno-Adriatico (September 7-13) and the BinckBank Tour (September 29-October 3).
