Wout van Aert had the goal of claiming the maglia rosa in the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia in Albania this weekend, but revealed in his pre-race interviews that because of a viral infection, achieving that is looking considerably less likely than he had hoped.
Van Aert has worn the leader's jersey in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, and was aiming to complete his Grand Tour collection in the 2025 Giro d'Italia.
A press release this morning from Visma-Lease a Bike indicated that the Belgian star 'definitely had the pink [jersey] as a goal.' However, when talking to journalists before the Giro d'Italia team presentation on Wednesday evening in Tirana, Van Aert was markedly less optimistic about his chances of doing so.
"Unfortunately, I got sick last week," Van Aert told reporters, including Sporza.be. "I've not had an ideal build-up. Apart from yesterday [Tuesday], I haven't done any really good training since Amstel Gold."
Van Aert said that he was "still in the dark" about his condition, and that he had had to change his training schedule "constantly" as the viral infection continued to drag on.
"The pink jersey has become more of a dream than a reality in recent weeks. The intention was to be at my best from day one. I now consider that chance to be much smaller."
Van Aert already had to miss out on the Giro last year because of a major crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen that left him badly injured. This year, he said that as late as last week, he had been feeling so ill he had thought it was unlikely he could start the race.
If the pink jersey is now all but off the table, Van Aert said that his initial pre-race goal of fighting riders like Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) for the points classification was now completely forgotten. As he put it to Sporza, "The circumstances are not right for it."
However, his hopes of turning in top rides on specific days, such as Saturday's 13.7 kilometre time trial stage around Tirana, remained intact, Van Aert said. In his single time trial of this season at the Volta ao Algarve, he performed well, finishing second behind teammate Jonas Vingegaard.
"A normal, healthy Wout would have always competed for the pink jersey in the first few days," sports director Marc Reef told Nieuwsblad. "And in the best of circumstances, he might even have been able to hold on to that jersey for a few days.
"We were really keen on that. We're not closing the door on that option completely, but it's just not that realistic anymore."
Reef said that globally for Visma-Lease a Bike in the Giro, stage wins were still an option for Van Aert and sprinter Olav Kooij, while Simon Yates would go for the overall. He also ruled out the idea that Van Aert might drop out of the Giro completely to be in top shape for the Tour.
"The intention is not to quit early," Reef told Nieuwsblad, while Van Aert himself said that he was hoping to turn things round as the race progressed. The chance of taking a pink jersey home in his suitcase in a few weeks, though, may well have to wait for another year.
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