Both Yara Kastelijn and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot have called time on their cyclocross seasons today. For Ferrand-Prévot it’s as a result of the injury she suffered at the Gavere World Cup race on Boxing Day. She suffered through a few more races at Heusden-Zolder, Diegem and Loenhout but has now decided to rest rather than push on with the leg injury.
“Of course I would have liked to participate in the Cyclo-cross World Cup, but my leg has not recovered as quickly as we thought. That is why I have decided, together with my coach and the team, to focus on the recovery. As a result, I can get fit and strengthen again before the start of the mountain bike season in April.
I started to feel the pain again, like in the old, bad days. It was the pain in my vein. However, after a medical checkup, nothing appears to be wrong,”
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
It’s been a mixed cyclocross season for the French rider. The 2015 world champion has only 3 top-10 results, including 7th at both the European Champs and the Dublin World Cup round. She initially thought the leg discomfort she had in December was related to the femoral artery issues she had surgery for in 2018 as the pain was similar. A check-up showed that that wasn’t the issue.
For Yara Kastelijn it’s been a short season of just 8 races. The Crelan-Fristads rider is suffering the ill effects of her own crash at Loenhout. She had to DNF that race as a result. Kastelijn won’t miss out on too many races however, she was planning to complete the Dutch national championship and Otegem before closing out the off-season part of the year. Despite not doing too many races, Kastelijn finished 3rd at the Exact Cross in Essen and 4th in Beringen. Her focus now will switch to preparing for the road season. Confirmed as part of the Women’s WorldTour Fenix-Deceuninck outfit, will be look to improve on her top results at the Ardennes classics.
“Unfortunately I will end my season earlier than planned. But I ended up unhappy during the Exact Cross Loenhout. The consequences of that are still causing problems.”
Yara Kastelijn
