The Visma-Lease a Bike team are still to win a Classic as the countdown to the Tour of Flanders begins but are hoping their fortunes will turn for the ‘Holy Week’ on the cobbles, with Wout van Aert recovering quickly after his crash at E3 Saxo Classic on Friday.
Van Aert was left with some road rash and stiffness in his right hip after hitting the edge of the cobbles on the Paterberg as he tried to chase van der Poel. But he was able to train near his home in northern Belgium during the weekend.
"Nobody has ever recovered immediately after a fall but Wout's injuries aren’t too bad,” Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif Maarten Wynants told Het Laatste Nieuws.
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“On Saturday, just like Matteo Jorgenson, he had extra incentive the day after the race to rest for a while and digest the expected dip after his altitude training. From this week his condition should only increase.”
The Flemish media have already started to talk about the ‘Curse of Mount Teide’ referring to Van Aert’s strategy of missing Milan-San Remo and other races to train at altitude and to only return to Belgium last Wednesday.
It is too early to judge Van Aert’s spring, but Visma-Lease a Bike are not as dominant as they were in 2023. Van Aert won the E3 Saxo Classic in 2023, beating van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar in a sprint and then completed a 1-2 with Christophe Laporte at Gent-Wevelgem. Dylan van Baarle won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Laporte also won Dwars door Vlaanderen.
This year Jan Tratnik won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad from a late attack and Van Aert won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Those results would be welcome by Soudal-QuickStep or Ineos Grenadiers, but Visma-Lease a Bike appear on the back foot, with crashes and injuries disrupting their plans and results.
Van Baarle is not yet at his best, Laporte struggled at Milan-San Remo and is out of action due to injury, Per Strand Hagenes fractured his nose in a crash at E3 Saxo Classic, Tiejs Benoot has a rib injury, Tosh Van der Sande has a back problem and Tratnik crashed out of Gent-Wevelgem, his helmet saving him from serious injury.
“You start the spring with a core of ten to twelve riders but with all that bad luck things then become a puzzle,” Wynants said.
Van Aert is due to race Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday as a final test before Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Van der Poel confirmed he will not race until Sunday but Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) and many others are on the entry list.
The Visma-Lease a Bike team has still to be confirmed, though the USA’s Matteo Jorgenson is likely to be part of the squad for the 188 km race between Roeselare and Waregem that includes 12 Flemish climbs and eight cobblestone sections.
Laporte was hoping to start training again at the weekend after a week off the bike with a stomach problem and saddle sore. However, on Monday, the team confirmed he would not ride Dwars door Vlaanderen nor the Tour of Flanders. Considering his injuries and time off the bike, Laporte is unlikely to ride Paris-Roubaix.
Benoot was covered in bandages for Gent-Wevelgem but finishing the race helped him feel better.
“I’ve had more pleasant days on the bike. I felt every hole in the road but my condition is good. With two days of recovery, things should go better on Wednesday in Dwars door Vlaanderen,” Benoot said with optimism.
“Things are not going well for us for the time being but things can turn around quickly.”
Van Aert was not scheduled to ride Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem and perhaps took heart from seeing Mads Pedersen beat his eternal rival Mathieu van der Poel a week before their expected showdown at the Tour of Flanders.
“He can be beaten,” Wynants said of van der Poel, with a sense of relief.
"It seemed for a while that he was going to pull another solo attack out of his hat, but we have seen what everyone has seen on the Kemmelberg. Mathieu remains a fantastic rider, but also a rider with limits.”
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