Shirin van Anrooij has made the difficult decision to pull out of the UCI Road World Championships and end her season early due to an unexplained lingering pain and power loss in her left leg. The Dutch rider said she would focus on working with her medical team for a diagnosis and recovery plan.
"Not the news I wanted to share but we made the decision to end my road season early and to skip Worlds," Van Anrooij said.
"I have been struggling with pain and power loss in my left leg and it has become too clear that we need to do more examinations to figure out what’s wrong and the best path to a full recovery.
"It’s, of course, disappointing but I am also trying to stay positive and believe that we will get to the bottom of the issue and that I will back to my best level before returning to racing."
Van Anrooij, a multi-discipline racer in road and cyclocross, made significant progress in racing on the WorldTour over the last two seasons with a win at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and podiums in other major races at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race.
She has also secured the overall title in the Women's WorldTour youth category for three seasons and was a favourite to win the under-23 women's road race world title at the upcoming Worlds in Zurich.
"I am still proud of what I have done this season, even if it's not the end I hoped for, and even more proud to have secured this UCI Women's WorldTour U23 jersey for the third year in a row," she said.
"Good luck to all my Lidl-Trek teammates for the last part of their season and to the Dutch team this week."
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