{"id":457059,"date":"2026-03-04T12:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/457059\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:44:15","slug":"wout-van-aert-to-make-season-debut-at-le-samyn-after-missing-omloop-nieuwsblad-on-account-of-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/457059\/","title":{"rendered":"Wout van Aert to make season debut at Le Samyn after missing Omloop Nieuwsblad on account of illness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Tour of Taiwan is an ‘unmissable event on the cycling calendar’<\/p>\n

Video credit: Tour de Taiwan<\/p>\n

Wout van Aert<\/a> will make his season debut at Le Samyn on Tuesday, race organisers have confirmed.The Visma-Lease a Bike rider missed Saturday’s Omloop Nieuwsblad<\/a> after falling ill<\/a>, having been expected to make his first appearance of the season on home soil.But the Belgian has recovered in time to compete at Le Samyn in Quaregnon – which will be shown live on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visma did not give any details on Van Aert’s illness, although the rider said he was “confident that I will be able to return to racing soon”.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, it\u2019s a big blow for me to miss out on my first race, having prepared for the Classics season the whole winter,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We had a good training camp at Sierra Nevada, and I was feeling really strong. But unfortunately, it\u2019s also that time of the year where it\u2019s easy to fall ill.”<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

‘Oh my word!’ – Watch the best cycling finishes of 2025<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Van Aert was seen back on his bike and training again on Sunday, despite Visma’s assertion that he would “take his time to recover”.<\/p>\n

All eyes will be on the 31-year-old as he makes his return on a challenging 204km route that includes several cobblestone sectors.<\/p>\n

After Le Samyn, he is scheduled to compete at Strade Bianche on Saturday, then a stage race in Tirreno-Adriatico next week, before several Classics including Milano-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n

Van Aert’s illness was the latest disruption in a difficult start to 2026, after he fractured his ankle at the Exact Cross cyclo-cross race in Mol in January and required surgery.<\/p>\n

He revealed after his ankle injury that there was some lingering discomfort.<\/p>\n

“It probably looks worse than it is,” he said<\/a>. “Walking is still painful at times and I have to be careful not to take too many steps.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been good that I\u2019ve already got some time on the bike – and it feels more or less fine. It\u2019s always amazing to be back on the bike.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s more or less OK. The fact that my foot fits in the shoe is a good sign. It still goes up and down a bit. We\u2019re working daily to improve it. Since I started riding again, I\u2019m confident I\u2019ll recover quickly.”<\/p>\n

He added: “They call it a joint fracture, and I had surgery the next day. Since then, it\u2019s gone relatively smoothly, and I could already get on the rollers quite quickly.<\/p>\n

“Right now, when I\u2019m on the bike without intensity, it\u2019s OK. My foot is basically locked in the cycling shoe, so that\u2019s manageable.<\/p>\n

“Normal life is more complicated. Walking takes a lot of energy, and when I put my foot down, the swelling comes back.<\/p>\n

“The fracture is held together with a screw and the ligaments around it need recovery, so we\u2019re looking at it day by day.”<\/p>\n

Stream the 2026 cycling season live on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why Tour of Taiwan is an ‘unmissable event on the cycling calendar’ Video credit: Tour de Taiwan Wout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,164707,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-457059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-le-samyn-2026","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}