Pink dream over before it began? Wout van Aert reveals he was ill ahead of Giro d'Italia - "After Amstel, I wasn’t able to do any real training"

Wout van Aert is far from the luckiest of riders, and that is proving to be the case once again. After finally managing to regain his best form once again he fell ill after the spring classics, and is not overly positive coming into the Giro d'Italia as his form may be far from what he had hoped for.

"I'm heading into this Giro with question marks. Unfortunately, I got sick last week and that meant my preparation was far from ideal," he admitted ahead of the Grande Partenza. He had prepared ideally for the cobbled monuments, and then battled for top results at both Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race. Afterwards things turned south.

"After Amstel, I wasn’t able to do any real training. I kept having to adjust things. I had an infection that kept lingering, so to be honest, I’m going into this not really knowing where the legs are at," he admits. The first three stages all suit the Belgian very well, but it is now unknown whether he will arrive to them with the best possible form or in position to take the pink jersey in his shoulders.

“The chance of being good right away is much smaller. I just hope my body responds well to the first stages. Of course we’ll give it a go on Friday, but we’ll see," the Belgian added. Of course that taking the race lead at some point in the first week was a big goal for van Aert, who hasn't done so until this day, but this will be a hard task.

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“It’s more of a dream now than something realistic. I’m taking it day by day and just hoping to have a great Giro. I still have plenty of ambition, but it’s a bit of a waiting game. Just last week it still didn’t look great for me to make the start this year either, so I’m really happy to be here now.”

What he has confirmed is that he won't look to perform in the points classification. “Not really. With Olav Kooij in the team, it’s going to be tough to pick up points after doing a lead-out. And most of the points are in flat stages anyway, so it was never really a goal.” The pink jersey is the same: “That was never the plan. We’re here to go after as many stage wins as possible. Simon Yates is our GC guy.”