Kuypers from Ramskapelle, near Nieuwpoort, suffered a broken collarbone in mid-December during the World Cup round in Namur. That meant the end of his cyclo-cross season. “My left collarbone was broken in three or four places. It was a bit of a puzzle in the operating room,” he said at his team’s media day on Friday.
The recovery is going well, and Kuypers is already training in Spain with his WorldTour teammates, but he will no longer do cross-country this season. “It was a bit of a dilemma, but anyway I wasn’t going to do any more cross-country racing after the World Cup. So we decided to stop and start my road season next month.” Kuypers will probably start the UAE Tour in mid-February.
Kuypers’ road program would have become more extensive even without the broken collarbone. “It is more full than in previous years. It is no longer a preparation, no longer elaborated in function of the cross, but more and more just the program of a road cyclist. I am getting more and more pleasure from road cycling. So I think I cannot miss the opportunity that the team gives me.”
Kuypers, who wore a day mountain jersey in the Tour of Switzerland last year, is mainly used in the climbing program. “I am by no means a classic rider. I hate cobblestones. I find riding uphill much more fun. In April I will ride the Tour of the Basque Country, in preparation for the Walloon program, with the Brabantse Pijl, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne- Liège. And then I go to the Tour de Romandie.”