Even though we have informed earlier this week, relying on information spread by the Belgian media, that Johan Vansummeren will not participate in the coming Paris-Roubaix due to weak mental condition following his crash with the elderly spectator in the Ronde van Vlaanderen last Sunday. However, the 33-year old Belgian has been included in the roster announced by Garmin-Sharp as well as participated in the route reconnaissance yesterday, and inspired by a will of victim’s family intends to give it all in the Hell of the North.

Vansummeren so far refused to pass more detailed information about the circumstances of the unfortunate accident which saw him colliding with the elderly female spectator last Sunday. However, while the former Paris-Roubaix champion has been briefly hospitalized and released with black eye and cuts and bruises on his face before the race came to its end in Oudenaarde, the 65-year old Marie-Claire still remains in the hospital in critical condition.

“For Marie-Claire and for himself,” Vansummeren’s wife Jasmine Vangrieken wrote on Twitter about his final decision to participate in the season’s second cobbled monument.

The 33-year old Garmin-Sharp rider returned to training on Monday, only a day after the accident happened, and claimed that it had helped him to keep his mind away from the incident.

“It was good for my mind to be somewhere else,” Vansummeren admitted.

“It was not an easy day. It was tough mentally and certainly it wasn’t an ideal preparation [for Roubaix]. I try to focus on Sunday and hope that I left all the bad luck behind me.”

Even though it has been strongly suggested that consequences of the crash will force Vansummeren out of the Paris-Roubaix, the 33-year old classics specialist eventually decided to participate and claimed to have enjoyed a reconnaissance of pave sections he did on Thursday.

“I rode 95 kilometers, to Carrefour de l’Abre. I was a tough workout,” Vansummeren said according to Sporza.be.

“I was really happy that I could ride. It was good to get away with my mind while riding the cobbles.”

The decision of the former Paris-Roubaix champion to contest the cobbled event next Sunday was encouraged by a will of Marie-Claire’s family recently published by Belgian newspapers.

“At least there are reasons why I should do it. I will ride as hard as I can on Sunday and then we will see where I would end up.”

On Sunday, Vansummeren will lead the Garmin-Sharp team alongside co-captain Sebastian Langeveld.

The full Garmin-Sharp roster for Paris-Roubaix consists of:

Jack Bauer, Tyler Farrar, Lasse Norman Hansen, Raymond Kreder, Sebastian Langeveld, David Millar, Dylan van Baarle and Johan Vansummeren