A crash inside the opening kilometres of this year's Tour of Flanders has taken out the biggest Flemish hope for victory in their home race, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). He hit his knee in a tumble during a return to the peloton from a toilet break and was forced to abandon.

Luck has not been on the side of Belgian champion, Tom Boonen, this season. Illness forced him to miss important pre-season training and his debut race Tour de San Luis, and later emergency elbow surgery made him forfeit his participation in one of his favourite races, the Tour of Qatar.

As a consequence, the defending  Belgian champion has played catch-up all season, but he seemed to have reached a decent level in the E3 where he expressed satisfaction with his progress. Just days later, he was dealt another blow when a crash forced him out of the Gent-Wevelgem with knee pain.

He managed to get back on his bike and get in two days of quality training in the Driedaagse van de Panne and he was cautiously optimistic during the press conference prior to his first big target of the season, the Tour of Flanders. Even though he was not at last year's level, he claimed to be able to pose a serious threat to race favourites Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara.

However, luck had not turned around and with his crash 2013 will not be the year in which he breaks the record of most Flanders victories. Instead, he will have to recover from another knee injury, and hopefully he will be fit in time for next week's Paris-Roubaix.

With Boonen out, his Omega Pharma-Quick Step will turn it full attention to Sylvain Chavanel. Even in the absence of Boonen, he will be surrounded by the strongest team in the race, and the Belgian super team will without any doubt still be a force to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, the Flemish fans will lick their wounds and hope that Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) or Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) can step up and play a role in the race's final.

Starting at 14.30, you can follow the drama in Flanders on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

UPDATE: There will be no Paris-Roubaix for Tom Boonen. Team manager Patrick Lefevre has told sporza.be that the spring season is over for the Belgian champion.