Wout van Aert misses the Tour of Flanders. The Belgian champion has to pass for the Flemish classic due to a positive corona test, he reported in a short video message. His participation in Paris-Roubaix is also highly uncertain.
Van Aert was one of the top favorites for the victory. He already won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic in Harelbeke this year. In 2020 he finished second in ‘Vlaanderens Mooiste’. Then he lost in a blistering final sprint to Mathieu van der Poel.
The beast got me at the worst possible moment
,,I will not be at the start next Sunday in the Tour of Flanders”, says Van Aert. ,,I woke up yesterday with a mild sore throat. Two self-tests soon showed that I tested positive for Covid-19. Two PCR tests have confirmed this. So there is no chance to start on Sunday.”
Van Aert admits that he only has mild symptoms. ,,That strengthens my hope that I will recover quickly and be back in action in the coming weeks. I’m focusing on my recovery now, a full recovery, before I start thinking about the future. On Sunday I will be the biggest fan of Jumbo-Visma.”
The cyclist does not know where he contracted the infection. ,,I have put a lot of effort into not getting infected for two years. Apparently you can’t control that. The beast got hold of me at the worst possible moment.”
The Belgian will be replaced by neopro Mick van Dijke, the team reported earlier. The other six Jumbo-Visma riders are Dutch champion Timo Roosen, Mike Teunissen, the Belgians Tiesj Benoot and Nathan Van Hooydonck, the Frenchman Christophe Laporte and the Italian Edoardo Affini.
Pogacar has learned from mistake
Pogacar will ride the Tour of Flanders for the first time on Sunday. And he certainly has ambitions. ,,I start in every race to win. Let me keep it at that. I like to race on those typical Flemish roads”, he said after the exploration of the course by his team Team Emirates. ,,With the national Slovenian team I once rode the Tour of Flanders for promises. I wasn’t great then. I am happy that I can now complete the Grand Tour.”
Pogacar spoke of an instructive exploration on Friday. ,,The weather conditions were not very good in the beginning, but gradually it got better and I enjoyed it. I hope I have something to remember from all that turning and turning for Sunday. But if I don’t remember, I can fall back on Matteo Trentin. It will be a very nervous race anyway. The cobblestones, the short slopes. There is danger behind every bend.”
The 23-year-old Slovenian, who already won two of the five cycling monuments last year with Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy, missed an important attack in the Dwars door Vlaanderen race last Wednesday. “Constantly attentive driving is the message”, he now knows. ,,I learned that in Waregem. I was a bit too far then, was held up by a crash and didn’t really come into the piece anymore. I hope not to make the same mistake again on Sunday.”
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