After Belgian virologist Marc Van Lanst said that Wout Van Aert, infected with COVID-19, had no chance of competing in Paris-Roubaix, his Jumbo Visma team has not confirmed when he will return to racing, but He explained about the possibility of his return to racing, without confirming when he would race.

Juan Art announced last Friday that he would miss the Tour of Flanders after testing positive for a virus on Thursday morning; the 27-year-old remained in isolation Tuesday in accordance with Belgium's "code yellow" rules.

After Belgian pundit Michel Ouitz rated Van Aert's chances of competing in Paris-Roubaix as "50-50," Van Langst said on Twitter that there was no question of him competing in the 17-day race.

"Roubaix's chances should be zero, not 50-50. One should not put a sudden strain on the body (and by extension, the heart) after being infected with corona." Wout Van Art will win Paris-Roubaix, but not this year. For a professional athlete, it is best to load slowly, after a full recovery."

Speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws (opens in new tab), Jumbo Visma director Sportif said the team will wait for Van Aert to recover from his illness before considering next steps, including medical tests, according to the UCI's COVID-19 protocol requires riders to undergo a series of medical and physiological tests before returning to racing.

"The first step in the process is to wait for Wout's illness to heal. I can't tell you how many days that will take."

"He will have to wait for a few days for his illness to heal.

"Once he is feeling better, we will do some medical tests. Performance-wise, we will determine if it makes sense for him to race."

Doctor Tom Teuglinckx, a member of the Belgian federation's medical staff, said Van Aert and Jumbo Bisma should be cautious about his return.

"We don't know everything yet about the consequences of the COVID-19 infection," he said.

"Our guideline is to stay on the sideline for at least 7 days after infection, preferably 10 days. This is the general rule, but the final decision rests with the team physician. Wout had the advantage of having only mild symptoms.

"We'll give him time to recover, see how his initial training goes, slowly increase his training volume, and then resume competition. You have to look at each case individually to see 'how long it will take. For example, Dylan Theuns raced a week later, but felt a strange reaction in his lungs and decided to take an additional four days off. Wise."

Like Theuns, Tim DeKlerk is also suffering from the aftereffects of COVID-19 infection. The Quick Step Alpha Vinyl rider contracted the virus during a tour of Saudi Arabia, and after struggling in the Volta Ao Algarve, he was diagnosed with pericarditis and forced to take a month off.

"I only tested slightly positive (for COVID-19) and had no fever or anything. So I thought, "There will be no harm, no great danger." But it turns out that we have to be more vigilant than with the common cold because the virus likes to "stick" itself to you."

"I have heard that I am not the only one in the peloton and that there are several players who have had similar experiences. In my opinion, it's a shame they don't come out and break the "taboo."