Wout van Aert "already feeling better" as Visma hope to see Belgian play key role for Olav Kooij in Giro d'Italia sprint

Wout van Aert has been at his very best in the early part of the 2025 Giro d'Italia. After being able to enjoy an early rest day after a mixed trio of stages in Albania however, Team Visma | Lease a Bike are confident the Belgian can be at the pointy end on stage 4, helping Olav Kooij in the first pure sprint of this year's Grand Tour.

“It’s still hard to gauge where Wout really stands form-wise. He had to dig deep on the first stage, and he paid the price during the time trial and the third stage. But we said from the start that we had to be realistic about what to expect from him," explains Team Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef in pre-stage 4 quotes collected by Het Nieuwsblad. "We’re hoping he can build form day by day during this Giro.”

“The rest over the past few days should help Wout get back on track,” Reef continued. “He didn’t waste much energy in stage three after being dropped, and yesterday on the rest day he had a good opportunity to recover. Today’s relatively calm sprint stage could also be beneficial. He was already feeling better yesterday, but we’ll continue to monitor him day by day.”

As for Van Aert himself, the 30-year-old sounded optimistic at the start line. “The weather is on our side, and I’m really looking forward to today. We’re going for a bunch sprint with Olav Kooij — he’s got a real shot at winning," he previewed. "I’ll be the lead-out today, and that definitely means less stress for me. It’s also more enjoyable knowing that I’d struggle to get a good result here myself, while Olav is one of the top favourites to take the win.”

Reef too sees Kooij as the main man for stage 4. “Today, we expect him (Van Aert) to be up front in the finale with Olav Kooij. And who knows — maybe he’ll get another shot at something tomorrow," concludes the DS. "Wout has already shown he’s a fantastic teammate. He enjoys helping others, and you can really see that when he gives everything to help a teammate take the win.”