On Sunday morning, Jumbo-Visma suffered a double start in Liège-Bastogne-Liège when it was announced that Sam Omen and Tosh Van Der Sande would miss the race due to a positive test for COVID-19.

Omen and Van der Sande were to be part of the team supporting Tiesj Benoot in his bid to win cycling's oldest classic.

Van der Sande described himself as "gutsy" in a message posted on Twitter, but insisted that his teammates were ready to take on the 258.1 km race.

Another important name among the Liege-Bastogne-Liege support riders who disappeared late in the race was Diego Ulissi of UAE Team Emirate: the Italian uphill finisher fell ill and was replaced by Michael Vink.

"Sam and Tosh are not unwell, but their heart rates are up and they feel a bit sick," Benoot told sporza.be (opens in new tab) before the start.

"Sam is a rider who can go quite well in the final, he is already in 11th place here. Tosh was important for La Redoute's positioning. Tosh was important for La Redoute's positioning.

Samuele Battistella (Astana-Cazakstan) was also unable to run in Liège-Bastogne-Liège due to illness.

Although the number of COVID-19 cases in pro cycling in 2023 is considerably lower than the spate of cases in the summer and fall of 2022, this is not the first year that Omen and Van der Sande have tested positive for the virus.

French sprinter Arnaud Demaret (Groupama-FDJ) had his season start delayed by a positive test for COVID-19, Simon Clark (Israel-Premier Tech) just before the Santos Tour Down Under, Elisa Longo Borghini ( Trek-Segafredo) tested positive a month later, and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AIUIa) during the countdown to Milan-San Remo.