Wout van Aert entered the Giro d'Italia right after an illness that derailed the form he had in the spring, and the first days of the race were very tough on him as he missed out on every opportunity to win. However the whole race for Team Visma | Lease a Bike was turned around when he thrived in Siena beating Isaac del Toro - two weeks later, he would help Simon Yates do the very same thing in the mountains. .
"It's like a ketchup bottle, when it's almost finished, you keep shaking and shaking. Nothing happens but then suddenly everything comes out at once," van Aert said in an interview with Cyclingnews. "That's what happened at our Giro. We came here with three leaders and all three were successful".
Van Aert took a victory (although two second places behind Mads Pedersen will have come as a disappoinment), helped Olav Kooij to two sprint wins and Simon Yates to the GC win. He was directly involved in every single one of them. "It's been a crazy 24 hours since Simon decided to turn everything upside down. We were really focused to finish it off and win with Olav".
Van Aert is only a recent teammate of Yates, and the two actually only began racing together for the very first time here at the Corsa Rosa. But the Belgian was thrilled with what happened this weekend. "It was the first time I've seen Simon so emotional. He's a relaxed guy but you could really see that it means so much to him. What he did on the Colle delle Finestre was special."
Above all, it was a massive psychological boost for the Belgian as well, who experienced a spring full of disappointments against stronger competition. "The start of the Giro wasn't a nightmare for us but at that point we were struggling. But in the end it's been a brilliant three weeks. It's mission accomplished for us."
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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