Jumbo Visma's Wout Van Aert believes the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, announced this week, will work to his advantage in his chances of being selected as Belgium's second place time trial candidate.

"For me personally, it increases my chances of being selected because I will have more opportunities to showcase myself," Van Aert said on the team's website on Tuesday.

Belgium has two slots in the time trial, with the second slot potentially open to a number of athletes. The first slot has already been won by Deceuninck-Quick Step's Remco Evenpoel, the 2019 European time trial champion; the second slot is up for grabs to Van Aert, Jumbo-Visma teammate Laurens De Plus, Hour Record holder Victor Campenaerts (NTT Pro Cycling), Yves Lampert (Dettunink-Quickstep), and Thomas de Gendt of Lot Soudal.

The two selected in the time trial are also part of a five-rider team for the road race, so the selectors will not necessarily choose the second fastest rider, but the one most likely to contribute to the team in the road race.

"I think it's a good decision," Van Aert said of the postponement until the summer of 2021 announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government.

"I think it's good for everybody that the decision was made early," Van Aart continued. 'In the last few days, the social clamor for a decision has gotten louder and louder. This way, everyone will have the opportunity to prepare adequately. That certainly would not have been the case this year."

Van Aert suffered a serious hip injury last July when he crashed in the individual time trial of stage 13 of his debut Tour de France.

He then won the Krawartencross near Antwerp in early February and returned to the road at the end of the month, finishing 11th in the Belgian one-day classic Omloop Het Nieuswblad.

But after only one race, Van Aert's season, and that of many of the world's top athletes, was cut short by the coronavirus crisis.

"Now that the sensible decision (to postpone the competition) has been made, each sport also has a chance to modify its calendar. [In cycling, they can reschedule the race or the Tour de France.

"And next year's calendar can already take the Olympics into account. It is positive that we already know this. So I'm not too disappointed, and I hope we have other goals for this year," he concluded.