Belgian Nationals: Wout van Aert points to rivals as favourites

Wout van Aert has insisted that despite taking the Belgian National time trial title earlier this week he will not be the number one favourite for Sunday’s road race.

Van Aert claimed the Belgian TT title for a third time in his career on Thursday, and was crowned Belgian road champion in 2021.

However, while recognising he is in good form, the 28-year-old has described himself and his teammates as outsiders for the coveted road title, given Jumbo-Visma’s relative lack of riders in the race compared to other top squads.

Speaking earlier this week, Van Aert was notably chary about giving reporters any hints about any tactics he might use in Sunday’s 230 kilometre race in Izegem, west Flanders, saying -  with a grin: “It would be stupid of me to do that.”

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Van Aert explained to Belgian media that his improvement in form “hasn’t just happened overnight. After the Tour de Suisse, I could rest up a bit and that’s exactly what I didn’t get after the long spell at altitude before I went to Suisse. I wasn’t fresh enough.”

However, he argued that “[Jasper] Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and [Tim] Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) are more favourites than me because they have more teammates.”

“There’s only four of us for Jumbo-Visma. Four good riders, but I consider us as outsiders.”

Mathieu Heijboer, head of Jumbo-Visma performance, nonetheless was adamant that Van Aert “has taken a big step forward. In Suisse, he was often at the limit of his strength because he hadn’t recovered from his altitude training at that point.”

By Thursday's TT, though, that had obviously changed, and in Sunday's road race, Van Aert will certainly do his utmost to stay ahead of the game again.