Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 11:21 AM
Video Visma | Lease a Bike has to make do without Wout van Aert in the Tour of Flanders. The intended leader had a hard fall four days ago, in Dwars door Vlaanderen, breaking several bones. A hard blow for Van Aert, but his team manager Richard Plugge left before the Tour of Flanders CyclingFlits know that the Belgian is already looking ahead.
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“I visited him in the hospital on Friday and we had telephone contact yesterday,” Plugge said. “He is now back home and considering the circumstances, he is doing well, as you say. But of course it was a terrible fall.”
The fall was a huge blow for Van Aert, not only physically, but also mentally, Plugge confirms. “Everything was about today and next week (Paris-Roubaix, ed.). We have to make new plans now, once he has recovered. That is the priority now. We have to work together to ensure that he can recover well. It looks like everything will turn out well, but we need to recalibrate.”
“He’s jumping”
Van Aert makes a resilient impression, says Plugge. “He is already looking forward to the moment when he can get back on track and train for the next competitions. Mentally he is in good shape. It is up to everyone that we do this at the right time and in the right way. He’s jumping.”
“Has he already put the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix aside and is looking ahead to next summer? It’s not that far yet. For the time being, he really needs to recover, he is well aware of that. We must first give that a chance. Only then can we make plans. But he really wants it again, so that’s very nice. His resilience is one of his strongest points. That will make him come back even stronger.”
Plan
Plugge cannot yet say too much about Van Aert’s program and the plans surrounding it. “We really have to look at that later. It just happened, he just got back from the hospital. We have to see how long it takes him to recover. We have no idea about that yet. We really need to let this take one or two weeks before we can make a plan for it. That is really not possible at the moment.”
2024-03-31 09:42:30
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