Visma | Lease a Bike mainstay Tratnik in trouble: Slovenian falls hard on knee he broke last year

In recent days, Visma | Lease a Bike indicated that Jan Tratnik was doing better after his crash in Gent-Wevelgem, but that turned out to be too optimistic. On Sunday, the Slovenian fell hard on his left knee, the same knee he broke just days before the Giro last year, and he is still experiencing significant discomfort. He abandoned Dwars door Vlaanderen after less than two hours of racing, which was supposed to be a test for the big race on Sunday.

Tratnik replaced the already sick Christophe Laporte for Gent-Wevelgem, in what was an unlucky weekend for the Dutch team. Per Strand Hagenes, Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot and Matteo Jorgenson also hit the ground on Friday, while Dylan van Baarle fell ill leading up to Dwars door Vlaanderen.

"It's never nice to hit the ground, but I don't have any major injuries," Tratnik stated on social media on Sunday. "I just have some bruises and pain. My helmet saved me," he added to his message. Visma | Lease a Bike stated that Tratnik was improving ahead of the next classics, but he seemed to have some doubts about that himself.

In Gent-Wevelgem, Tratnik fell hard on recently broken knee

At the start of Dwars door Vlaanderen, Tratnik spoke with IDLProCycling.com. "How am I? Could be better," he said with a forced smile after his crash between Ypres and Wevelgem a few days earlier. "Someone hit my front wheel, and I couldn't do anything about it. There was nothing I could do, and I fell quite hard on the knee I broke last year."

"The muscles around it are quite stiff, but I still wanted to give it a try," he said. "I haven't been able to do much in the past few days. So, I'm starting Dwars door Vlaanderen without any expectations, just to see how I feel during the race. If the pain gets worse, there's no point in continuing. But let's hope there's no pain," he said, sounding slightly hopeful in Roeselare.

"There's nothing wrong with my form, it's purely about the injuries," said Tratnik, who along with Van Aert, Hagenes and Benoot, went to high altitude to prepare for the classics. "The form is there, but in terms of the pain and my muscles, this is a test. Then we can look ahead to Sunday," he concluded.

The test was not successful, as he did not complete the two hours of racing. This is a tough blow for Vlaanderen, but Tratnik is also scheduled to start the Giro d'Italia in just over a month. He is the only Visma | Lease a Bike rider scheduled to ride the Giro-Tour double.