Wout van Aert continues to be on observe to steer the Belgian choice on the upcoming UEC Street European Championships regardless of a latest sickness, nationwide coach Sven Vanthourenhout has mentioned.
The 29-year-old missed out on a Tremendous 8 Traditional showdown with Mathieu van der Poel on the weekend after his Jumbo-Visma staff introduced he was “not utterly match”, lacking a number of days of coaching within the course of earlier than returning on Sunday.
Van Aert will tackle each the time trial (September 20) and street race (September 24) on the European Championships within the Netherlands, sharing co-leadership of the Belgian choice with Arnaud De Lie on the latter.
“Wout stayed off the bike for a day or two. These weren’t essential coaching days however, in fact, sickness isn’t the perfect situation. Restoration at all times makes use of up vitality,” Vanthourenhout advised Het Nieuwsblad.
“I count on Wout to be match. I do know he was in a position to do what he needed to by way of coaching for the street race and time trial.”
The 42-year-old coach mentioned that his preparation for the race will not be as “intense” because it was for final month’s UCI Street World Championships in Glasgow, the place he took second within the street race and fifth within the time trial.
Nonetheless, after Van Aert gained a stage and the general on the Jumbo-Visma-dominated Tour of Britain earlier this month, Vanthourenhout is not involved about his type.
“He hasn’t had the identical intense preparation as for the World Championships, however he ought to definitely be aggressive,” Vanthourenhout mentioned. “I do not need to be detrimental – I have a look at the Tour of Britain the place he was in fine condition and mentally recent.”
The street race, which runs for 200km from Assen to the Col du VAM, taking in seven ascents of the hill, ought to lead to a decreased bunch dash, mentioned Vanthourenhout. He famous that his two leaders, Van Aert and De Lie, must be well-suited to the route, saying that having a pair of co-leaders will solely assist Belgium’s probabilities of success.
“We explored the run-in to the native laps,” he mentioned. “We will have a nervous and chaotic race the place having two leaders solely provides worth. We’ll see a really thinned-out group and I do not count on a dash of greater than 10 or 15. Hopefully, there shall be two of us there.
“A selection will at all times be made which might’t be estimated prematurely. I’ve a transparent thought about the place the playing cards lie in the mean time, however the race can at all times resolve in another way. We’ll make a superb settlement between two trustworthy guys who know that they are going to usually trip championships collectively in future.”
Van Aert and De Lie head up an eight-man choice for the street race, with Jasper De Buyst, Tim Declercq, Yves Lampaert, Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns, and Florian Vermeersch additionally beginning.
Van Aert and Lampaert may even tackle the 20.6km time trial in Emmen, whereas Lotte Kopecky leads the Belgium girls’s groups for each the time trial and street race.
