Cobble-shaped chocolate cake, mini-cobbles and a whole lot of other cobbles - Wout Van Aert thoroughly enjoys his Roubaix triumph

It's a mission accomplished for Wout Van Aert. Historical records will be no longer able to view him as the never-crowned dauphin of the cobbled Monuments, even if a Tour of Flanders title is missing in the Belgian's palmares. But who cares? Van Aert's won the Paris-Roubaix, beating world champion Tadej Pogacar in a head-to-head duel of two cycling superstars.

Following the race, Van Aert earned himself some time off competition, and maybe even off the bike, to spend with his family and fully soak up the achievement. Some snippets from the past weeks were shared on Van Aert's Instagram, including a cobble-shaped chocolate cake, sunny holiday and mini-cobbles from his two sons.

A month had passed since this year's Paris-Roubaix, and we'll have to wait another month till we'll see Van Aert back on the roads, however gravel enthusiasts witnessed that the Belgian is in a just fine shape already as he triumphed in the UCI-sanctioned Marly Gravel Race in Netherlands, leaving behind gravel world champion, Pogacar's teammate, Florian Vermeersch, and a host of other road and cyclocross professionals.

Regarding Van Aert's proximate programme, next start of the 31-year-old Belgian is scheduled for Tour Auvergne-Rhone Alpes (June 7-14), which will serve as a final test before the Tour de France in July. Looking further ahead, Van Aert appears on the provisional startlist for Vuelta a Espana, and a start at the Montreal World Championships is also very likely for the Visma | Lease a Bike star.