Jan Bakelants on Wout van Aert: "That man has signed a lifelong contract with the team, they can show their appreciation for that"

Wout van Aert has been ill heading towards the Giro d'Italia and his level is a relative unknown. The Belgian showed his best legs once again in the spring classics with the perfect timing, but training partner and friend Jan Bakelants

"He has been ill and we have to take that seriously. Wout is not someone who changes his schedule quickly, he likes structure and good preparation: if he deviates from that, it means that something serious is going on. He returned to Belgium because he had a serious infection. He had to take antibiotics: that is never good for your condition," Bakelants said in as column for Het Nieuwsblad. 

"The competitors who assumed that Visma would take control of the race in the first days could be disappointed. You could see them thinking 'the only thing we have to do is follow Visma, they will do the job'. But that scenario is now very uncertain, suddenly they have to go to the drawing board themselves and figure out their own tactics".

However if - or rather when - the Belgian does have the legs, he expects a proactive Visma working to give their leader a chance to take stage wins on his debut at the Corsa Rosa: "I do count on Visma-Lease a Bike to ride for Van Aert when he feels great again. That really has to happen now, like they did in the Vuelta last year. I think they should try to make Van Aert happy. That man has signed a lifelong contract with the team, they can show their appreciation for that."

And this does not only apply to sprints, van Aert can absolutely fight for victories in the race's time-trials but also through breakaways. "I see it differently: the level in the Giro will be human. The team has to go along with his story. Of course they will also think about Simon Yates' classification, and in flat stages it is logical that they play the card of Olav Kooij, but the entire team will not have to follow suit like in the Tour for Vingegaard."