Andreï Tchmil in 2002: the failed finale
At the Three Days of La Panne. 5 days before the Tour of Flanders.
On the descent from Mount Kemmel, during the 2nd stage, the Moldovan-Belgian fell heavily and saw his dream of winning the Tour of Flanders disappear. Already a winner in 2000, he had imagined ending his career with this double. Suffering from a double muscle tear and several finger fractures, he had to withdraw from the Ronde, of which he was one of the favorites, and from Paris-Roubaix. He returned to competition in May and hung up on a stage victory at the Tour of Belgium.
Tom Boonen in 2013: a bad series
In Ghent-Wevelgem. 7 days before the Tour of Flanders.
Already lagging behind on the roads of the E3 GP in Harelbeke, the Belgian champion is approaching his Flemish campaign in search of sensations. Two days later, he fell at Ghent-Wevelgem 65 kilometers from the finish. Suffering from his right knee, he counted on the Three Days of La Panne to test himself but abandoned the last day. He is at the start of the Ronde but falls again after 19 kilometers of racing. The same evening, he withdrew from Paris-Roubaix. Three times winner of the Tour of Flanders and four times of Roubaix, he will never win either again.
Fabian Cancellara in 2015: goodbye record!
At the E3 GP. 9 days before the Tour of Flanders.
Big favorite of the Flemish classics campaign which opened in Harelbeke, the Swiss fell after an hour of racing, victim of a container hastily thrown by another competitor which brought down part of the peloton. After a few kilometers, he had to give up, suffering from a wrist injury. But it was also a double fracture of the vertebrae, later detected at the Waregem hospital, which forced him to withdraw from the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, two races that he would no longer win although he was aiming that year the record of four victories at the Tour of Flanders.
