Cycling-Van Aert to miss Tour of Flanders after testing positive for COVID

Belgium's Wout van Aert will miss the Tour of Flanders after testing positive for COVID-19, his team Jumbo Visma said on Friday. He is not very sick but not competitive enough to start in the Tour of Flanders," Jumbo Visma sports director Arthur Van Dongen said.

Belgium's Wout van Aert will miss the Tour of Flanders after testing positive for COVID-19, his team Jumbo Visma said on Friday. "The good news is that I only have mild symptoms, just a sore throat and a cold. My focus is on recovering now. I want to be fully recovered before thinking about the future again," Van Aert said in a statement https://www.teamjumbovisma.com/news/news/corona-infection-keeps-van-aert-out-of-tour-of-flanders.

Sunday's Tour of Flanders is one of five Monuments, the major one-day races of the elite calendar. Van Aert's best-ever finish in the Tour of Flanders was second place in 2020. He finished sixth the following year.

"Examinations have confirmed that Wout is not fit. He is not very sick but not competitive enough to start in the Tour of Flanders," Jumbo Visma sports director Arthur Van Dongen said. "He now has to take a break and then we will set new goals. "Knowing Wout, he will come back stronger than ever. We will sit down with the team, make a new plan and discuss how we can win the race with the new team composition."

Van Aert won three stages at the Tour de France last year and took silver in the individual road race at the Tokyo Olympics.