OmegaPharma-Lotto’s three-time Ronde van Vlaanderen runner-up Leif Hoste approaches this Sunday’s race after some less than ideal preparation. The 32-year-old Belgian has been suffering from stomach flu and performing less than spectacularly at the Three Days of De Panne. He lost 21’35” on stage 1, unable to come to terms with his bad form.
“These are not my legs,” he said, according to Sporza. “This was a painful day, literally.”
“I’ve had stomach flu in the last few days and I’ve spent more time on the toilet than on the bike… in the last few days I have lost 4 kilos.”
It’s not just at De Panne that his performance has been affected, last weekend’s big Flemish weekend of the E3-Prijs Vlaanderen and Gent-Wevelgem were a disaster for Hoste. “On the day before the E3-Prijs I slept the whole day,” he explained, “but I wanted to race. I was surprised that I reached Harelbeke though. Hopefully I’ll be better soon. Otherwise it’ll be late for the Ronde van Vlaanderen.”
Since his three second places (in 2004 behind Stefan Wesemann, in 2006 behind Tom Boonen and in 2007 behind Alessandro Ballan) Hoste has been less than spectacular in the race. Instead, he has gone far better in the following weekend’s Paris-Roubaix. For a Flemish rider on a Belgian team though, the Ronde is by far the bigger priority.