With a giant block of coaching at altitude in Tenerife in his legs, Wout van Aert is heading into the center of the Spring Classics with excessive aspirations for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Nonetheless, he will likely be with out his teammate Christophe Laporte in Friday’s warm-up race, the E3 Saxo Traditional.
Laporte was at Van Aert’s facet for his victory in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne final month however felt in poor health throughout Milan-San Remo and was compelled to desert on the Capo Berta with slightly below 40km to go.
“It is a massive loss for us. Hopefully, just a few days of relaxation will do him good for the remainder of the classics season,” Van Aert stated.
Visma-Lease a Bike director sportif Grischa Niermann has been capable of get reinforcement for the crew, nonetheless.
“Even with out Christophe, we nonetheless have a wonderful crew in the beginning,” Niermann stated about Friday’s WorldTour race.
Tiesj Benoot will likely be again in motion on the E3 Saxo Traditional after struggling a small fracture in his sacrum in a crash in the course of the Volta ao Algarve.
This season Van Aert is decided to fill in some gaping holes in his spectacular palmares, particularly the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
To enhance on his pair of podiums in Roubaix and single runner-up end on the Tour of Flanders, Van Aert opted to skip Milan-San Remo and commit three weeks to altitude coaching, clocking greater than 75 hours of coaching and over 50,000 metres of climbing.
“The final three weeks have gone properly,” Van Aert stated. “I’ve spent many hours in a quiet and exquisite surroundings and have accomplished my total schedule. In fact, it’s at all times thrilling to attempt one thing new. I’ve usually responded properly to a coaching camp at altitude. I’m assured that it is going to be the identical this time.”
After an abbreviated cyclocross marketing campaign, Van Aert raced solely two one-day races in Spain and the Volta ao Algarve earlier than the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, however Niermann is hopeful the change was the fitting resolution.
“Wout has not raced many races but, however he was sturdy on the opening weekend. We count on him to come back again properly from his altitude coaching. After Paris-Roubaix, we’ll know if we made the fitting selection,” Niermann stated.
Van Aert will get some solutions on the E3 Saxo Traditional.
“E3 is similar to the Tour of Flanders,” Van Aert stated. “It is a beautiful race. I am curious to see how sturdy I’m after the altitude coaching. I’ve been feeling good all winter and have stored my greatest objectives in thoughts.”
Van Aert will skip Gent-Wevelgem this weekend and use Dwars door Vlaanderen as his remaining race earlier than his key objectives on the finish of the month.
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