"Fleuris", "fluimpje" and "damage control" Wout van Aert was already dealing with issues in the lead-up to the Giro d’Italia and he had actually been hinting at it all along

After wrapping up his spring campaign at the Amstel Gold Race, Van Aert briefly swapped his bike for running shoes before heading to Lucca, Italy with his family for a short training camp ahead of the Giro d’Italia. On April 29, one of his Strava ride titles read "een fleuris opgeschaard" which is a regional expression for pleuritis, an inflammation of the lining around the lungs and the inside of the chest wall.

The next day, Van Aert himself seemed to be in the dark as he went to recon stage nine of the Giro d’Italia, the gravel stage around Siena. On May 1 - Labor Day - his Strava title simply read "fluimpje", a Dutch word referring to mucus membrane, hinting again at ongoing health issues.

Back in Belgium, Van Aert rode a 67-kilometer training ride on May 5 titled "damage control". For those reading between the lines, the message was clear. Whether subtle or not, this string of Strava titles suggested that something was off. And indeed, just two days before the start of the Giro, it was officially confirmed that the Belgian was dealing with lingering health issues.

In the end, the health concerns weren’t enough to keep Van Aert from making his Giro d’Italia debut. On Friday, he will line up as planned, though Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed his ambitions have been slightly scaled back. That shift in tone was already hinted at in the team’s press release on Tuesday.

“A stage win is definitely a goal in the coming month. I have worn the leader’s jersey in both the Tour and the Vuelta. It’s a dream to also wear pink in the Giro,” Van Aert said. On Friday in Tirana, after stage one, we will truly see where he stands.

Whether Van Aert can genuinely contend for the maglia rosa remains a big question mark. That doubt stems from the lingering illness that’s affected the Flemish rider in the lead-up to the race. The dream of pulling on pink in the opening weekend is, according to sports director Marc Reef, “suddenly no longer that realistic.” He adds, “We need to give Wout the space to grow into this race.”

Van Aert is still aiming for a stage win, but the team is tempering expectations. “We shouldn’t focus too much on short-term results,” Reef told Belgian media. “But of course, a healthy Wout would have been right there in the fight for pink during those early stages. In the best-case scenario, he might even have held onto the jersey for a few days. That was definitely something we were targeting. We’re not closing the door on that entirely, but it’s just not as realistic anymore.”