Reusser and Le Court Confirmed With Fractures After Flanders Femmes Crash — Spring Campaigns in Tatters
The fallout from a brutal 2026 Tour of Flanders Women continued on Sunday evening as teams confirmed that both Marlen Reusser and Kim Le Court-Pienaar suffered fractures in a heavy crash just before the Koppenberg. The incident, which also caught Lorena Wiebes and several other riders, has thrown spring campaigns into disarray for two of the peloton's most prominent figures.
Movistar confirmed that Reusser sustained a fractured vertebra in her lower back. The Swiss champion, who had shown superb form by winning Dwars door Vlaanderen just days earlier, will be treated conservatively without surgery but faces an indefinite spell on the sidelines. For a rider who only recently returned from knee and shoulder injuries suffered last season, the timing is devastating.
Le Court-Pienaar, the reigning Liege-Bastogne-Liege champion racing for AG Insurance-Soudal, fractured her wrist and will require surgery at Herentals hospital in the coming days. Her defence of the Doyenne title on April 26 now looks all but impossible, robbing the Ardennes Classics of one of their most dangerous contenders just three weeks before the race.
The crash occurred on a fast, narrow approach to the Koppenberg with around 40 kilometres remaining. Riders at the front of the peloton touched wheels on a tight left-hand bend, bringing down a group of approximately fifteen riders. Race commissaires briefly neutralised the bunch to allow medical vehicles through, but for Reusser and Le Court the race was immediately over.
Wiebes, the SD Worx-Protime sprinter, was also caught in the pile-up but was able to remount and eventually finished the race, crossing the line in a group behind the podium finishers. Her team confirmed post-race that she escaped without fractures, though she was visibly battered in the closing kilometres.
The injuries add to a growing toll from the 2026 spring Classics. Stefan Kung, Ben Swift, and Tim Wellens all broke bones during Opening Weekend, while Guardeno's training crash earlier in March served as a grim reminder of the risks riders face at the highest level. The women's peloton has been particularly hard-hit, with several other riders suffering contusions and abrasions in separate incidents during the Flanders Femmes.
For Reusser, the focus now shifts entirely to recovery. The 34-year-old was riding the best spring of her career, and Paris-Roubaix Femmes on April 12 — a race perfectly suited to her power profile — is now out of the question. Le Court's Ardennes ambitions are similarly ruined, with Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege all coming too soon for a rider who will be recovering from wrist surgery.
The sport moves fast, and the remaining favourites for the Ardennes will sense opportunity in Le Court's absence. But on a dark evening in Flanders, the overriding emotion was sympathy for two riders whose spring dreams were ended by a crash they could do nothing to avoid.