Wout van Aert is recovering from his ankle fracture at a remarkable speed. Just weeks after a season-ending crash at the cyclocross in Mol, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader is already back to logging massive distances at the team training camp in Spain.
The Belgian star's winter campaign came to a sudden halt in late December. During a duel with Mathieu van der Poel in Mol, Van Aert crashed heavily on the frozen course. The diagnosis was a fractured ankle, which required surgery to insert a screw.
Until very recently, Van Aert was seen wearing a large protective boot at the team's media presentation. The swelling was significant, and his cyclocross season was obviously over. However, his return to the bike has been much faster than anticipated.
A rapid increase in volume
On Monday, Van Aert completed his first ride since the surgery, a modest 33-kilometer spin that he described on social media as a "victory in itself."
Since then, the progression has been absolutely exponential. After traveling to the team's training camp in Spain on Tuesday, he rode just under 60 kilometers. On Wednesday, he broke the 100-kilometer barrier. On Thursday, he extended that to 144 kilometers.
By Friday, Van Aert was back to serious endurance work. According to his Strava data, he completed a 184-kilometer ride, which he titled as "smooth ride", spending approximately six hours in the saddle.
Van Aert is not riding alone. During Friday's long session, he was accompanied by a strong group of teammates, including Matteo Jorgenson, Christophe Laporte, Edoardo Affini, Timo Kielich, Loe van Belle, and Niklas Behrens. Team manager Grischa Niermann didn not want to miss the party and also joined the ride.
Van Aert's season is expected to start at the end of February, debuting at Omloop Nieuwsblad. He plans to ride the first three momunents - Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix - and the Tour-Vuelta double.
Read also
Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
claps 5visitors 5
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin is wuite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
- dude, Lemond never even was in the same race as Armstrong. He throws all these aspersions on other American riders who might usurp his throne as the greatest ever American racer. He doesn't say a single thing about (foreign) dopers who he actually raced against. Biggest douchebag move ever. I used to revere that guy, now I despise him. His actions are so weird.fatsupermodel02-11-2026
- This is just stupid, You do what you are good at not what you are weak at. He has no results to speak of when he participated. Even Froome, Conatdor had very little. With Pogi there he wont win none of the classics. he is already 30+ with a few years left at the top. It takes years to get good at classics. Is that really worth the effort???abstractengineer02-11-2026
- Sure, little fella.awp02-11-2026
- You'll be the ongoing joke of 2027 with anything you post here!frieders302-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment