His hip-fracture is still bothering Saxo rider Nick Nuyens too much, and he has therefore decided he will not be starting RVV. Nuyens is the defending champion.

"Every movement hurts", Nuyens tells Sporza. "I can't even put on my socks. Luckily I have someone for that at home (laughs). It's annoying. On the other hand, the stress of 'will I make RVV or not?' is gone now. Cause it won't happen. And that's final. Accepting this is the only thing I can do. 2011 was the height of joy, now it's the opposite. And for the classics that come after RVV things don't look good either, because I'm missing that little extra."

Picture by Cindy Trossaert, used under a creative commons license.