Wout van Aert and 2022 winner Dylan van Baarle will lead Jumbo-Visma at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday as they try to bounce back from defeat at the Tour of Flanders and end their cobbled Classics campaign with a final big win.
Jumbo-Visma won five of the cobbled Classics but van Aert was distanced by Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel at the Tour of flanders and finished fourth.
The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the big goal for Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma and so are keen to bounce back from their Tour of Flanders defeat.
Van Baarle was unable to race both Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders following his crash at E3 Harelbeke, hurting his knee and hip and then getting sick but Jumbo-Visma have confirmed to Cyclingnews that he part of the line-up for Sunday.
Both Van Baarle and Wout van Aert are set to recon the roads and cobbles of Paris-Roubaix on Thursday.
Van Baarle, 30, said that he quickly recovered from his E3 injuries, a race won by Van Aert in a three-up sprint, but that stomach issues had rendered it impossible to get back into racing more quickly.
“I'm completely fit again'', said Van Baarle, according to an AD report. “But last Sunday night I got so sick, I had a stomach bug and just sat on the toilet.”
“It was impossible to get to a good level, so we decided to pull the plug on that.”
Van Aert has been rebuilding in his own way after taking fourth in the Tour of Flanders, posting two recovery training rides on his Strava account.
The Strava data showed that Van Aert rode 42 kilometres on Monday and 75 kilometres on Tuesday near his home in northern Flanders, with minimal elevation gains of 73 and 95 metres respectively.
The somewhat cryptic (in English, if not in the original Dutch) rides titles where: “The Hazepad with the concrete farmer” for Monday, and “The Zebra with the pancakes” for Tuesday.
The Strava title for Van Aert's rather tougher ride around Flanders on Sunday's race was clear and included his opinion of his performance: ‘Not Ready Enough’.
Van Aert had already promised after Flanders that he would be back to his best for Paris-Roubaix. He finished second last year despite having suffered COVID-19 in the previous weeks and missing the Tour of Flanders.
‘I’m not going to sit [and sulk] in a corner,” Van Aert promised. “This week there’s another chance and I’ll be full on to try and get it.”
Van Aert has received some boosts to his confidence regarding his chances in Roubaix from key names in the sport including Van der Poel’s father, Adrie and all-time cycling great Eddy Merckx.
“I think there is only one top favourite and that is Wout van Aert,” said the Dutchman. “There are no hills in it and you can't just power off on them. It is a completely different course.
“We also know his strengths: you can drop him, but never completely.”
However, Van Der Poel also argued, without specifying why, that “Jumbo-Visma’s race strategy will have to change.”
Merckx was almost equally categorical about Van Aert's chances in the Hell of the North, Het Laatste Nieuws reported.
“He fell a little short [in Flanders]. But I hope for one thing: that he is the best on Sunday and wins Paris-Roubaix. You can't write off Van Aert after you see how he rode Gent-Wevelgem,” Merckx said.
