"Perhaps the Tour of Norway came a little too early for him" - Visma temper expectations as Wout van Aert joins Jonas Vingegaard at altitude

After a nasty crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen ended his spring prematurely, Wout van Aert returned to racing last month at the Tour of Norway. Growing into the race, signs were mostly positive for the Belgian and he has now stepped up his recovery with a trip to altitude alongside teammate and fellow crash victim Jonas Vingegaard.

“We will look at the level of each rider,” says sports director Frans Maassen in quotes collected by HLN about the Team Visma | Lease a Bike training camp in Tignes, reflecting mostly positively about van Aert's return to racing in Norway. "It was not something for Van Aert that he had to drop out at the end of the first and second stages uphill. But then he took part in the bunch sprint on days three and four. And he really should have won the final stage. Perhaps the Tour of Norway came a little too early for him. But it is Wout van Aert. He recovered quickly and was getting better every day. He had a good feeling after Norway. But of course there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Although van Aert's plans for a Giro d'Italia debut were scuppered by his crash in the spring, the Belgian may yet make an appearance at the Tour de France later this month. For both van Aert and Vingegaard, a lot depends on a successful altitude camp.

“A lot will also depend on the role Van Aert is given if he rides the Tour. With or without Vingegaard, that will always be a different role," analyses the Team Visma | Lease a Bike sports director. "He is smart, he can judge for himself whether he needs the Tour to realize his Olympic dream, or whether it would be better to have an altitude training camp in Livigno in July.”