Despite all the bad news, there is some good news for Picnic PostNL: Fabio Jakobsen has undergone major surgery

Last week, Jakobsen announced through his team that a problem had been found that caused him to perform less well than earlier in his career. "During the races early in the season, however, it appeared that he could no longer push the pedals as powerfully as before in the crucial, high-intensity moments. After further examinations with the team's medical staff, it was determined that Jakobsen has a flow limitation in the iliac arteries in both legs," announced on March 31.

"This is a disappointment mentally, but now that we have found the cause, I am hopeful that surgery can resolve it. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward, and I hope that is the case for me now," said Jakobsen, who has since announced that the surgery went well. "Now, I will take a few weeks of complete rest to let everything heal inside and out, and then I will focus on my recovery." According to his team doctor, he can make a full recovery." Fortunately, given the type of injury, Fabio has a good prognosis for a return, but the recovery may take some time."

Picnic PostNL has already had to deal with several setbacks this year. The Dutch team would be without Romain Bardet in the Tour of the Algarve, which meant that the Frenchman would ultimately be unable to participate in Paris-Nice, among other races. The other leader, Max Poole, broke his collarbone in Strade Bianche and had to skip Tirreno-Adriatico, among other races.

The classic core also had to deal with a lot. Nils Eekhoff crashed hard on his jaw in the AlUla Tour and then returned with a victory in Nokere Koerse but was again knocked back just before the big races. "I thought I'd had my share of bad luck after the crash in Alula. But after returning to racing in great shape, I suddenly experienced severe pain last Friday during the Tour of Catalonia. It turns out there's a tear where the Achilles tendon meets the calf muscle—a rare injury for cyclists, making it all the more puzzling," Eekhoff had already missed Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders and is also uncertain for Paris-Roubaix," he said.

The next setback in the Tour of Flanders came for Picnic PostNL, which lost leader John Degenkolb and his assistants Tim Naberman and Alex Edmondson in a serious crash involving Mathieu van der Poel and others. Degenkolb was seriously injured and broke his collarbone, wrist, and elbow, meaning he will unfortunately have to skip his beloved Paris-Roubaix. Naberman also broke his wrist, while Edmonson suffered an ankle injury.

Due to all these setbacks, Picnic PostNL also fears relegation more and more. The team is eighteenth in the WorldTour ranking, about 1800 points ahead of the chasing XDS-Astana.