Wout van Aert to miss time-trial national championships in preparation for Tour de France

Wout van Aert is a two-time national champion in the time-trial discipline, however this year he will once again miss out on the opportunity to collected another medal as he will be focusing on the preparation for the Tour de France.

"And I think that's a shame myself," he told Wielerflits. However, he is expected to be present on the Road Race where he won last year for the first time in Waregem. Van Aert suffered from a Covid-19 infection just before the Tour des Flandres, however he's still had a very impressive spring with wins at E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Nice. Adding to that, he's gotten several podium places at the French stage-race, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

He'll be focusing on the Tour de France on the second half of the season, and in order to prepare for it together with Jumbo-Visma, the team are expected to be on a team altitude camp the weeks anticipating the Tour's start.

"In that week, together with the teammates of Jumbo-Visma, I am still on an altitude training course for the Tour de France. It is not obvious to come down earlier," van Aert confirmed.