The Belgian rider for Fenix-Deceuninck Julie de Wilde has confirmed via social media that she will miss the rest of the 2023 spring classics period. She had already scored top-10 finishes at this year’s Omloop van het Hageland and Nokere Koerse (7th at both) and was just outside of the top-10 at Ronde van Drenthe where she finished 13th.
De Wilde was on course for another strong result having made the front group in the winds, so pretty much guaranteed a top 8 in that race, only to be taken out by Alice Barnes. The Brit, unfortunately, touched wheels with a rider in front and went down hard, breaking her arm in the process and Julie de Wilde had no option but to crash too.
De Wilde suffered what was initially thought to be a cracked shoulder blade in a crash at Classic Brugge – De Panne but that has now been upgraded to a fracture. The timeline originally had De Wilde inactive for 3 weeks but that is now potentially doubled or more depending on the speed of her recovery.
“Two years ago Bruges-De Panne was my first race of the spring classics, now it’s my last. I have a fracture in my left shoulder blade.
All I can say: that’s life. It’s not the end of the world. But it still hurts to miss all the following classics. Hopefully I will return to the peloton as soon as possible. I wish my teammates the best of luck in the upcoming races.”
Julie de wilde
