Sincere Wout van Aert struggles through 2025 road debut: "I'm certainly not bad, but I felt that I wouldn't win"
Cycling
Wout van Aert raced the cyclocross World Championships two weeks ago, and afterwards took some rest. This Monday afternoon, he began to build on his spring campaign at the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, but the lack of great form saw him instead working for Briton Ben Tulett instead of chasing a personal result.
“I didn’t have the best legs and was quickly on the limit a few times in the final. Unfortunately, as a team we were also chasing the facts too quickly. There should always have been someone with Michal Kwiatkowski. Sepp (Kuss, ed.), Ben (Tulett, ed.) or me. But I just had a difficult moment." van Aert told Het Laatste Nieuws.
Ever since the riders entered the many gravel sectors, the race was out of control for the Dutch team. INEOS Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates - XRG both had plenty quality riders in the main group, whilst both also had riders in the head of the race who attacked early with Michal Kwiatkowski and Brandon McNulty.
Van Aert and Visma were forced to take most of the workload. And a mishap right before the gravel began made life even harder for the Belgian: "That meant I wasn't really well positioned. I had to waste some energy to survive the first selection, but with good legs that wouldn't have been a problem".
As the group chased on the head of the race, van Aert realized the team's best card was in Ben Tulett who also wouldn't be too covered by their rivals, and so he hit the wind himself for many kilometers, sacrificing his own chances. "I'm certainly not bad, but I felt that I wouldn't win. Then I'd rather try to close the gap for a good result for Ben." The Briton rode to ninth on the day whilst van Aert was 39th.
“I had the feeling that Ben was our best man, but lacked some confidence. That's why I encouraged him to save himself for the final and I tried to do something for him. It's not a bad start, but it was a tough race," he concluded.
🇪🇸 #ClásicaJaén
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) February 17, 2025
Tough, but decent start of the season for the guys out there! ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/RoxKL8hs31
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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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
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