"He can train as usual right now" - Visma hope Wout van Aert can maintain same spring schedule and reach best form in time for monuments

Wout van Aert suffered an ankle fracture now over a month ago in what ended up being his final cyclocross race of the winter at the Exact Cross Mol, but it hasn't changed his pland for the road much. The Belgian has travelled to altitude together with a few Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates recently and the team have positive feedback on his recovery.

“The first few days are definitely more about adaptation. The boys are on their rollers now and they don’t have to do any long training sessions yet," Grischa Niermann said in words to Wielerflits from Sierra Nevada, where the riders are finding cold temperatures but will be putting in the work to improve their form into the big goals.

“We always planned that altitude training camp, and it seemed for a while already that Wout would be able to go there, but of course, it’s very important that it’s worked out. He’s still in rehabilitation, but despite that, he can train quite well. I don’t think he could race yet, but training isn’t a problem.”

Van Aert's biggest issue comes with walking, as was also possible to see during Visma's media day in la Nucia three weeks ago. Whilst he was able to go on training rides, he was not able to walk without a brace. But as time passes, the injury is coming closer and closer to full recovery.

This means that the Belgian's plan to start his season at Omloop het Nieuwsblad hasn't changed, even if he doesn't have the desired form on that event. Whilst the ultimate goal remain the cobbled monuments, this time around van Aert will also be present at Strade Bianchw and Milano-Sanremo as big goals.

“He can still ride, he can still train. Maybe he can’t put weight on his ankle fully yet, but it’s going as we hoped," Niermann assures. "It’s going according to plan. At the moment, the schedule still allows him to start on Opening Weekend.”

However only time will tell how he will evolve. “We hope he’ll be on top form later on, but we do expect him to be on top form for Omloop. We can’t say much at this point about the steps he’ll make during the training camp. But he can train as usual right now, and that’s the most important thing," he concluded.