"I want to put up a fight" - Wout Van Aert ready to take on the best at Middelkerke - Wevelgem

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have set out in search of a win today at Middelkerke - Wevelgand and the Dutch team's strongest hopes are that Wout Van Aert can do it. Following a tailor-made program, he makes his cobbled classics return for this Sunday's headliner.

The Belgian made the conscious choice to not race the E3 Saxo Classic to put in extra training ahead of the two race days he will use into the Tour of Flanders. This is a choice that he did not regret, despite watching the high-intensity race on TV.

"No, I wasn't disappointed. Unless it was for my teammate Per [Strand Hagenes], who just missed out on the victory," he told Sporza this morning in Middelkerke. "Just like all of Flanders, I was following along on TV. But you make choices, and then you look at the race in a different way."

The Belgian's form is strong, having shown a high level at Tirreno-Adriatico and then backing that up with a third place at Milano-Sanremo where he finished third despite being involved in Tadej Pogacar's crash - where he lost even more time due to a bike change.

He's now moved into the Belgian classics and Wevelgem is one that suits him well, with less climbs where a rider like Mathieu van der Poel can make the decisive difference, and more gravel and flat roads where his abilities are better suited to.

Visma have Van Aert to play as their main card, however not their only card. Matthew Brennan is an option for a sprint, although his form may not be the best; Whilst former winner Christophe Laporte is, like Van Aert, well suited to any scenario that may be played out. The team does not have Per Strand Hagenes present but has plenty cards to play.

"It would be logical for him (Brennan, ed.) to speculate on the sprint and for me to make the race. But there are a lot of things that can happen between the start and the finish. Gent-Wevelgem (now called Middelkerke-Wevelgem, ed.) is a race that can always go either way, although nowadays the breakaway riders often come out on top. In any case, I want to put up a fight".