“He wants to test himself, but he is far from 100 percent” - Team Visma | Lease a Bike lower expectations for Wout van Aert's return at Tour of Norway

For the first time since crashing out hard at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Wout van Aert is set to return to racing at the upcoming Tour of Norway. Given his lengthy layoff however, Team Visma | Lease a Bike are keen to temper expectations surrounding the Belgian superstar.

“Wout is happy that he can ride a race again. He wants to test himself, but he is far from 100 percent,” Team Visma | Lease a Bike press secretary, Sander Kleikers, explains in conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws ahead of the Tour of Norway getting underway on the 23rd of May. “It is a statement that Wout has made before, but he 'doesn't have to do anything' is very applicable again.”

With this first test being simply about getting back into the rhythm of racing and not about challenging for stages of GC, van Aert is without pressure in his first race back from a fractured collarbone, fractured rib(s) and a fractured sternum that he received in the priorly mentioned, Dwars Door Vlaanderen crash earlier this year. 

“It was a tough rehabilitation,” says Jef Van den Bosch, his manager to HLN. “Wout has been in pain for a long time. With the injuries he had, we lay on the couch and asked if someone can please bring a coffee, but he was already walking. Don't underestimate how much his body has suffered. During one of those walks, Wout called me. He had been out for an hour, 'but I'm exhausted,' he said.”

To make matters worse, van Aert has prepared very well for this spring season and was in top shape prior to the untimely crash. "Wout was really great. His values ​​were very, very good," concludes his manager, again stressing the fact that the Tour of Norway is to be raced without lofty expectations. “Things have been going well over the last week and a half, but Wout is going to Norway to gain racing rhythm and toughness. That is it."