After his Ronde van Vlaanderen double-crash, Stijn Devolder was hugely missed as Cancellara's key suport in the Paris-Roubaix last weekend, and according to the Belgian media, the Trek Factory Racing rider will not return to competition until the Bayern Rundfahrt, held from May 28th.

“He suffers too much pain following his crashes in de Ronde,” Trek Factory Racing manager Dirk Demol told Sporza.

The Belgian national champion hit the deck twice in Ronde van Vlaanderen over a week ago, and dispire launching a heroic chase in order to support his leader Cancellara, Devolder was eventually forced to abandon the race.

Assesing the amount of injuries he suffered, the 34-year old classics specialist will not only withdraw from the Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday, but most likely will be forced to skip all the Ardennes classics before returning to competition in the second half of May.

“He still suffers a lot of pain,” Demol repeated, “Thus, we have mutually decided that he will not start in the Brabantse Pijl next Wednesday. We will see whether we’ll select someone to fill his spot.”

“We will let Devolder to fully recover from his injuries now. He will probably return to competition at the Bayern Rundfahrt, which takes place from May 28th to June 1st,” Demol concluded.