This forced him to miss the finale of the season including the World Championships, as well as preventing him from taking the jerseys he had worked for in Madrid. The knee injury kept up with him throughout the winter and delayed his start to the season as he had difficulties running. Now, he's back to good form and with two wins in the bag - including the Dendermonde World Cup. He is likely to keep the same CX calendar, which does not feature the World Championships.
Instead he will end in Maasmechelen and then make his road debut at the Clásica Jaen Paraiso Interior on the 17th of February according to Het Laatste Nieuws. Right after, as in 2024, he will race the
Volta ao Algarve as the only stage-race in his spring calendar, to be sharp for the 'Opening Weekend' where he aims to win
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Then no Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, but instead an altitude training camp which seems to be the favoured preparation for the current specialists at this time.
Van Aert will then race the
E3 Saxo Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen in anticipation to the Tour of Flanders where he will face none other than Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel in the Flemish bergs. He will race Paris-Roubaix if all goes right, having finished on the podium in his last participation in 2023, where he punctured as he attacked van der Poel in the finale. He will then take some rest and is scheduled to race the Giro d'Italia. Van Aert is looking to finally make his Corsa Rosa debut with no mishaps this time around, before taking some rest and then doing the Tour de France as well in search of wins and supporting Jonas Vingegaard.