Wout van Aert has had an extremely unlucky start to the year but now, with a month left to the Tour of Flanders, it might be time for the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider to finally get back on track. He is now confirmed to be racing Le Samyn this Tuesday, where he will return to racing.
This Monday marks the two-month mark since his crash at the Exact Cross Mol, where he was racing alongside Mathieu van der Poel but slipped in a patch of ice, breaking his ankle in the fall. Whilst it was not overly costly for his training schedule, it removed a few weeks of quality training and racing whilst making his everyday life difficult as he could not walk regularly for several weeks.
He travelled to Sierra Nevada for an altitude camp with the team for three weeks, although on several days training outdoors was not possible in the midst of a snowstorm as Western Europe was affected by a once-in-a-generation sequence of storms and meteorological depressions.
Since, he has come back down from altitude but he then fell ill which led him to have to skip Omloop het Nieuwsblad, where he would've been testing his form and also been one of the candidates for victory. Visma then won Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne with Mattew Brennan; and the team now has momentum to carry onto Le Samyn.
Van Aert has been confirmed by the race organizers to be participating, ending the doubts on his current health status. He will join Christophe Laporte and together, they form a duo that is likely to be the one to beat on the Belgian semi-classic. He will follow that up with Strade Bianche later this weekend, before going through a heavy racing schedule ahead of the monuments where he will be racing with the goal of obtaining a victory this spring.
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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.
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- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
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- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
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Official News : @WoutvanAert will ride Le Samyn! 🤝 #EnameSamynClassic #LeSamyn #WoutVanAert #teamvismaleaseabike
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