Van Aert pulls out of national champs due to illness a week pre-Tour
Wout van Aert was considered a favourite going into Sunday's Belgian national championship road race, but after first experiencing symptoms on Saturday evening, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider was confirmed as a non-starter this morning due to 'stomach flu'.
"We don't want to take any risks," team coach Maarten Wynants told Het Nieuwsblad at the start in Binche. "Wout wouldn't start ... just to make kilometres, it's win or nothing, knowing that the Tour is coming up."
Van Aert last raced at the Giro d'Italia, in the run-up to which he also struggled with illness that hampered his performance in the opening few stages. The Belgian will now focus on recovering as best he can before joining Jonas Vingegaard et al. for the start of the Tour in Lille in six days' time.
