+VDP+, who has not raced all season, was hired "because of the team's many sick riders" according to his Alpecin team, which claimed to have no particular ambition for its rider.

"The race was preferred to a training session," added Alpecin of his leader who was due to reappear in the peloton next Tuesday during the Coppi-Bartali Week in Italy.

Van der Poel, 27, has participated twice in Milan-Sanremo (13th in 2020, 5th in 2021).

The Dutchman, who has not raced on the road since his third place in Paris-Roubaix last October, had his winter thwarted by back pain, a consequence of his big fall from mountain bike racing last summer at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

He skipped the cyclo-cross Worlds and resumed training in Spain after a break of several weeks.

© 2022 AFP