Wout Van Aert will be making his debut at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège after recovering from COVID-19. This appearance in the oldest Classic is the result of his season being unexpectedly disrupted because of COVID-19. Due to this disruption, he missed out on the Amstel Gold Race and Tour of Flanders.
Fortunately, not everything seems gloomy as Van Aert was part of the group that got to inspect the route. In particular, they inspected the final climb of Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons as well as the descent to the finish. If all goes well, there might be hope for Van Aert yet!
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Even Wout Van Aert seems optimistic after seeing the route, he said:
I give myself a small chance to win, a big one to get a nice result.
Primož Roglič will not be participating in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège, as he is recovering from a knee problem. Roglic won the same event back in 2020 and the team could have used his expertise. Although it has to be noted that he is on a mission as he and Tiesj Benoot will be leading the team for La Doyenne.
The final climb of Liège–Bastogne–Liège is going to be tough and he has hopes to skim through it.
It usually explodes there, but you have to get there of course. Many have already been ridden down before. Trying to follow will be hard enough.
For Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Van Aert wants to change handlebars, this decision comes after his reconaissance. Van Aert said:
It was a bit of a shock when I noticed that the Walloon roads were even worse than the Flemish ones. I already knew the climbs by the way and also the order.
It was a tricky reconnaissance, but I already knew that. I train here a lot. The most interesting part was the descent to the finish. I didn’t know that one yet. It is a beautiful finish. You get there quickly after that descent. If you’re not there at the top of the Roche aux Faucons, there will be no turning back.
Van Aert does not want to get his hopes up but he deems Liège–Bastogne–Liège as a “Nice Opportunity”. This will serve as a nice tutorial for the Ardennes Classic. We won’t have to wait long to see Van Aert in action again.
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Featured Image Via Instagram/woutvanaert
