Jan Bakelants (38) knows Wout van Aert (29) inside and out as a fellow partner and training buddy. The ex-rider has no doubts about the mental resilience that Van Aert will show during his rehabilitation, but is now calling for the unfortunate rider to be allowed to recover peacefully.
“No, I haven’t heard Wout van Aert yet,” Jan Bakelants told Radio 1 this morning.
“There is little point in bothering him now. He will be terribly disappointed. The best thing is to collectively leave him alone and let him deal with the blow.”
“It is a sporting drama, but first and foremost he must recover. He will be in a lot of pain: physically and mentally he is broken. He must now recover in private with his family and not think about the race.”
It is not the first setback that Van Aert has had to deal with. The 2019 Tour ended abruptly in the time trial in Pau after a horror crash.
“Can he come back stronger, just like after that fall? Wout can be next to the term “resilience” in the dictionary.”
“It’s certainly possible, but now it will hurt for a while. We have to leave him alone now and he has to distance himself from the sport for a while.”
“Then it will definitely tickle and he will return very strong. That is ingrained in Wout, but it is not yet relevant to look ahead. It is too fresh.”
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