Two riders were in the Holiday Inn function room on the outskirts of Ghent, but a third ghost dominated the pre-Tour de Flanders Jumbo Visma press conference.

Thijsje Benoot and Christophe Laporte were there, looking a bit lost in the absence of Jumbo Visma team leader and number one Wout Van Aert, who was announced "unwell" on Thursday.

"No news on Wout," the team's press officer said in his opening remarks, and for 20 minutes questions about Wout followed. Later in the afternoon, the team posted a video message confirming that the Belgian had tested positive for COVID-19 and would miss the race.

"In any case, I will do everything I can with the team on Sunday," Laporte offered.

When the two expressed their views on tactics, they were prefaced with the assumption that it was hypothetical.

"If he's not there, it makes a big difference for everybody," Benoot said. 'All of our competitors are looking at social media to see if there's any news yet. Audiences, journalists, everyone ..... .95 percent are talking about him now."

Juan Art won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in dominant fashion this spring and finished arm-in-arm with Laporte in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic. With the Belgian champion's jersey and the nation's expectations on his shoulders, he was a major force to be reckoned with before the holy Sunday.

Benoot won Omloop and was second in the Doire de Flenderen on Wednesday, while Laporte won almost the entire race in the Coone and was second in E3 and Ghent-Wevelgem. Both, however, have undoubtedly been competitive in the presence of Van Aert and the number of Jumbo Vismas.

Therefore, both players seem to think that their route will be complicated (not cleared) by the absence of their leader.

"In fact, I can increase my stars more when Wout is not at the start than when he is," Benoot said of his position in the hierarchy of winners.

As for Laporte, "For a rider like me, it is harder to win without him than with him."

Both riders pointed to Benoot's runner-up finish in the Douart as proof that he could race well without Van Aert. However, in a two-man sprint race with Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin-Phoenix), Benoot was completely outclassed.

"What would you do?" The Belgian replied jokingly." I need to run away alone."

While finishing speed is what Benoot lacks, it is Laporte's greatest strength. In this regard, the two riders can put together a powerful tactic on their own.

"I think we are quite complementary because Christophe has really good sprints," Benoot said.

Still, the absence of a rider who combines the greatest strengths of both in one package will undoubtedly leave a huge hole both within the team and in the race as a whole. It is interesting to note that while Jumbo Visma was expected to control the race and open the race when they wanted to, both riders strongly suggested otherwise.

"Without Wout, our responsibility will be less," said Laporte, adding to the pre-race mind games of Benoot. The greatest responsibility lies with Alpecin,"

"because he's the one who has to do it. Let's see if they do or not."