{"id":501589,"date":"2026-02-26T20:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501589\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:58:09","slug":"another-blow-for-wout-van-aert-as-illness-derails-classics-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501589\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Blow for Wout van Aert as Illness Derails Classics Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another frustrating twist for Belgian star as illness stalls his classics debut, but road map to the cobblestone monuments remains on track. <\/p>\n

\"Van<\/p>\n

Van Aert’s 2026 classics campaign is delayed by illness. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n

Updated February 26, 2026 09:19AM<\/p>\n

In another setback for hard-luck Wout van Aert<\/a>, the Belgian star will miss Saturday\u2019s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad<\/a> and put his spring classics campaign<\/a> on hold after falling ill, his team confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a> star was set to debut his 2026 road season at the Flemish classic in Belgium\u2019s Opening Weekend<\/a>, but now he will focus on recovery after sickness struck during a stint in a snow-bound altitude camp in Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s a big blow for me to miss out on my first race, having prepared for the classics season the whole winter. We had a good training camp at Sierra Nevada and I was feeling really strong,\u201d Van Aert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut unfortunately, it\u2019s also that time of the year where it\u2019s easy to fall ill. I remain positive about the feeling I had on training and am confident that I will be able to return to racing soon. Just not this Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest setback for Visma, which has seen a string of crashes, illnesses, and delays to open the 2026 racing season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That means there\u2019s no direct matchup against longtime rival Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>, who confirmed he\u2019ll race Saturday in his road season debut.<\/p>\n

Van Aert won Omloop in 2022 and was hoping to put an ankle injury suffered this winter during cyclocross firmly behind him going into the Opening Weekend.<\/p>\n

His spring calendar should otherwise remain on track, with the Ename Samyn Classic on March 3 and Strade Bianche<\/a> on March 7 in a showdown with Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> still on the books.<\/p>\n

He will be replaced in the Visma lineup<\/a> by Italian rider Pietro Mattio as Visma reshuffles for the Belgian opener.<\/p>\n

Christopher Laporte, who looks back on track after an illness-plagued 2025, will take the lead for the Killer Bees despite crashing out of Ruta del Sol last week.<\/p>\n

Also confirmed Thursday, Soudal Quick-Step\u2019s Jasper Stuyven will also miss Omloop as well as Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne due to illness. The Belgian won both races in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another frustrating twist for Belgian star as illness stalls his classics debut, but road map to the cobblestone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[168574,49,48,635,62140,82,200406,200407,200408,75783,177929,54267],"class_list":{"0":"post-501589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-audio-true","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-parent_category-news","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tag-christophe-laporte","15":"tag-tag-jasper-stuyven","16":"tag-tag-kuurne-brussel-kuurne","17":"tag-tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","18":"tag-tag-omloop-het-nieuwsblad","19":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}