"Marc was my first and only trainer" - Wout van Aert upset with coach's departure alongside Primoz Roglic to BORA - hansgrohe

Marc Lamberts, coach of Wout van Aert since his junior years, followed him through his glory years in cyclocross and on the road. He was signed by Jumbo-Visma alongside the Belgian, but now after 12 years of collaboration the two will split as Lamberts will follow Primoz Roglic to his expected transfer towards BORA - hansgrohe.

“This is the end of an era. Marc was my first and only trainer. So it will be different in many ways. Personally, I think it's a shame that I have to change," van Aert told Het Laatste Nieuws. "But Marc is also in my heart. I want the best for him, and that's why I understand that he wants to take this opportunity to do something new. The news that he is leaving has hit me. We have been through too much together to call this a purely professional relationship. We will definitely keep in touch. I'm closing an era. It was not my request to change, the circumstances force me, but I have to deal with it positively and believe in a new start.”

Arguably, it is safe to say that the collaboration between the two has worked quite well. Besides multiple World Cup and World Championship wins in cyclocross, the Belgian has become one of the best, most successful and versatile riders on the road, combining his incredible domestique shifts with monument, Tour de France wins and all-round consistency that few can match on the saddle. Van Aert will hence start working with a different coach for the first time in his career and is hopeful. "I hope and believe that I can still get better. I'm 29, these are probably my best years."

"I have to keep focusing on all the details and with all the knowledge this team has, hopefully I can take another step. It can be refreshing to step out of my comfort zone for once. It may sound strange that I have that ambition, but every year everyone in the peloton gets even better," he continues. "If you stay at the same level for two years, the second year is guaranteed to be less, because everyone else around you has improved. If I want to stay competitive, I have to keep improving myself.”

“How is that possible? In the race you calculate in seasons, but with each new season you take with you what you have done in the past. This means that you normally enter the new season at a level that is a little higher than the year before. All that training makes your body a little stronger. And then you build on that," van Aert concludes. Today he ends his season on the road with the difficult Gran Piemonte classic, and afterwards he'll ride the Gravel World Championships, before a resting period that anticipates his cyclocross season.