Wout Van Aert and Dylan van Baare join forces for Paris-Roubaix counterattack

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Wout Van Aert and Dylan van Baare join forces for Paris-Roubaix counterattack

Wout Van Aert and 2022 winner Dylan van Baarle will lead Jumbo-Visma in Sunday's Paris-Roubaix as they look to bounce back from defeat in the Tour of Flanders and end their Cobbled Classics campaign with a final big win.

Jumbo-Visma won five cobbled classics, while van Aert finished fourth in the Tour de Flanders, separated by Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Pol.

The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are big goals for Van Aert and Jumbo Visma, who are eager to bounce back from their defeat in the Tour of Flanders.

Van Baar suffered knee and back injuries in a crash at E3 Harelbeke and has been ill since, so he was unable to compete in both Dwars door Hlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders, but Jumbo-Visma told Cycling News that he will be in the Sunday confirmed that he was in the lineup.

Van Baar and Wout Van Aert will scout the Paris-Roubaix surface and cobblestones on Thursday.

Van Baar, 30, said he recovered quickly from his injury in E3, where Van Aart won the three-up sprint, but stomach problems made it impossible for him to return to racing earlier.

AD reports that "I am fully fit again," van Baar said. But last Sunday night I was sitting on the toilet because of stomach problems."

"It was impossible to reach a good level, so I decided to pull the plug on it."

After finishing fourth in the Tour de Flanders, Van Aart posted two recovery training rides on his Strava account to rebuild himself.

According to Strava data, Van Aert rode 42 km on Monday and 75 km on Tuesday near his home in northern Flanders, with minimal elevation gain of 73 m and 95 m, respectively.

The somewhat cryptic (in English if not in the original Dutch) ride titles were: on Monday, "Concrete Farmer's Goby Pad" and on Tuesday, "Pancake Zebra."

The Strava titles for Van Aert's Sunday race around Flanders were clear and included an opinion of his performance.

Van Aert had already promised to be back to his best in Paris-Roubaix after Flanders. He finished second last year despite missing the Tour de Flanders the week before with COVID-19.

"I'm not going to sit in the corner," he said. I have another chance this week and I'm going to give it my all."

Van Aert was given confidence about his chances in Roubaix by key figures in the sport, including Van der Pol's father Adly and the great cyclist Eddy Merckx.

"I think there is only one contender for the win. 'There are no hills on this course and you can't just power through it. It's a completely different course."

"We also know how strong he is. We can drop him, but we can't drop him completely."

However, without stating why, Van der Poel also insisted that "Jumbo Visma's racing strategy has to change." [Het Laatste Nieuws (opens in new tab) reports that Merckx was almost as categorical about Van Aat's chances in the northern hell.

"He came up a little short [in Flanders]. But I hope for one thing: that he does his best on Sunday and wins Paris-Roubaix.

"He's a little bit short [in Flanders],"

Merckx said.

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