"That’s a first step..." - Visma hopeful of Wout van Aert start to the season at Le Samyn

Team Visma | Lease a Bike are racing Omloop het Nieuwsblad without Wout van Aert which slightly limits their options to fight for the win. The Dutch team is still positive on a good results and has two strong leaders to back up those ambitions, however the veteran's participation at Le Samyn cannot be confirmed.

In words to Het Laatste Nieuws, team DS Martin Wynants confirmed there is some progress for the Belgian: “We hope he can start in Le Samyn. An update will follow. I can confirm that he is eating and drinking, so that’s a first step.” Initially Van Aert would combine Omloop and Le Samyn for an early block of racing in Belgium before moving to Italy where he will be racing Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. As is the case with Mads Pedersen, his health status is coming in the way of the ideal plan.

At the start of the race this morning in Gent, Matthew Brennan talked to the media, after having being given the green light to lead the team in the first of the Opening Weekend races. “It’s really unfortunate he’s not here. He sent us a WhatsApp message this morning wishing us the best of luck and I know he’s going to be sat watching on the TV and probably doing some analysis on what we’re all doing wrong,” the Briton said of his teammate.

Like Van Aert used to, and as Christophe Laporte does; Brennan hopes to be able to use his sprint to be victorious in this difficult race. Visma will be hoping it comes down to some sort of sprint in Ninove this afternoon. “It doesn’t really change how we’re going to race. We’re still going to race really aggressively and try to create the best scenario we can, and hopefully we can win.”