Remco Evenepoel's will not be the only surprise participation at the 2026 Tour of Flanders. On Sunday, in fact, the Belgian's case will have a female counterpart in Kristen Faulkner who, like the Red Bull BORA hansgrohe rider, will be at the start of the Ronde despite not having initially included it in her plans for 2026.

The American, originally, was supposed to skip the cobbled classics to head directly to the Ardennes classics instead, but, encouraged by the positive signals received in recent weeks, in agreement with EF Education-Oatly she decided to modify her schedule and thus, this weekend, she will pin on the number on her back in what will be her first appearance in the national champion's jersey not only of the year but even since the Tour de France Femmes (concluded with a withdrawal after 3 crashes in 5 stages) of last season.

"I think it will be positive to return to road racing before the Ardennes and spend some time with the team: I've really missed my teammates and I love the Ronde. It's such a fun race," said the thirty-three-year-old from Homer through the team's official channels, completely recovered from the shoulder surgery she underwent last autumn.

"Because of the surgery, the team didn't know how I would react. Recovery can be long, so initially I wasn't included in the selection for any cobbled classics and the plan was for me to return to Europe and start again with the Ardennes. Between training and performances at the Pan American Games, however, I realized that my physical condition was really good and so I told our DS Carmen (Small, ed.) that I would return to Europe right away. At that point she told me: 'If you're in shape, why not take advantage of it? Do you want to come to Flanders?'" revealed a Faulkner forced last year to end prematurely a particularly problematic season.

"The period after the Olympics was one in which I was very busy and in which I couldn't give myself a real break because of the numerous media commitments. I traveled a lot, adrenaline was always high and this made me arrive at 2025 exhausted even before the season started," revealed the Olympic road champion from Paris 2024.

"It was my worst year in Europe, the only one in which I didn't win a race on the Old Continent, so I believe this break was exactly what I needed. Initially, the fact of having to have shoulder surgery and being forced to stop had really brought me down, but in the end all of that turned out to be a real blessing. Now I feel truly regenerated," admitted Faulkner, who successfully returned to experiencing the racing atmosphere a few weeks ago at the Pan American Championships where she immediately won both on the track (gold in the individual and team pursuit) and on the road (her title in the time trial).

"It was the first time I returned to racing on the track after the Olympics and it was really nice because I love the track [...]. It's an activity that helps me a lot both in being more explosive and in time trials, so I think it's really positive for what awaits me on the road to have competed in this event," said the American champion, who has also returned to velodromes with another purpose in mind.

"One of my goals for the coming years is to race at the Los Angeles Olympics in the time trial and participating in the Pan American Championships was useful for that."

Before the five-ring event to be experienced at home, however, Faulkner has two and a half more seasons ahead of her and, therefore, other goals to try to achieve.

"My goal in the next two years is to wear the yellow jersey and, since I've already won a stage at the Giro and the Vuelta, winning a stage at the Tour would complete the circle. I would also like to win more time trial victories and stand on the podium in the discipline at the Worlds," concluded the ambitious Alaskan rider.