Former national champion Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) will not start the Belgian road race championships on Sunday after developing symptoms of illness, his team have confirmed.
Van Aert did not ride the time trial earlier in the week, but was set to ride the road race, which starts and finishes in Binche, with a 230km course.
The Belgian is due to start the Tour de France on Saturday, after not racing since he completed the Giro d'Italia in May.
"Unfortunately, Wout van Aert is not feeling 100% fit and will therefore not start in today’s Belgian Championship," Visma-Lease a Bike said on social media on Sunday morning.
"Wout developed symptoms of illness on Saturday evening, and following a medical evaluation this morning, the decision was made to withdraw from the race."
The team did not go into any more detail about the nature of the illness.
On a weekend of numerous national championships, the Belgian event is largely considered one of the most prestigious, and will usually have the longest and most challenging course.
As a result of the prestige, all Belgian WorldTour riders are generally expected to race, unless they have a valid reason not to, such as injury or illness.
In Van Aert's absence, the start list in Binche is still stacked full of big names – almost all of the Belgian professionals – including Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and outgoing champion Arnaud De Lie.
Van Aert has been Belgian champion once before, in 2021.
Instead of racing in Binche, the 30-year-old's next race will be stage 1 of the Tour de France, starting in Lille on Saturday.
Doing the Giro-Tour double programme this year, Van Aert has not raced since the former concluded in Rome four weeks ago, but is still expected to be on track to start the Tour, where he will be supporting Jonas Vingegaard's bid to win the race, as well as chasing his own 10th stage win.
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