Why Wout van Aert is starting his season in Spain - "A gravel race always makes my heart beat a little faster"
Cycling
Wout van Aert is a rider that truly knows no boundaries when it comes to motivation, resilience and motivation in pro cycling. 2024 was a devastating year with two crashes that derailed his season, but despite this he never stopped working on his recovery, then his cyclocross form, and only two weeks after he's already beginning his season fresh and looking for wins at the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior and Volta ao Algarve.
“Last year was my first time riding these races. It turned out to be the perfect preparation for the Flemish opening weekend," the Belgian said in words shared by the team. In Jaen he will have dozens of gravel kilometers in a very explosive race where he will be the headliner and one of the main favourites. In the Algarve he's got three opportunities to win bunch sprints, a time-trial with a summit finish and a mountain stage where he will support Jonas Vingegaard.
“The Volta ao Algarve has a bit of everything. There are a few stages where I see opportunities to go for the win, but the main goal is to take another step in my preparation for the big spring classics. Of course, we’ll also aim for the overall victory with Jonas. I’m looking forward to racing my first road races of the season."
All this will be before the 'Opening Weekend' where he hopes to show strong form. "I finished third in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. We thought it would be a good idea to include the Clásica Jaén and the Volta ao Algarve in my program again. I think they are two beautiful, varied races where I can immediately test myself. A gravel race always makes my heart beat a little faster.”
The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider is following a very different path than that of Mathieu van der Poel into the spring classics, taking on a lot of racing in February and early March, and then going on an altitude camp before tackling the main cobbled classics block. Meanwhile, the man who beat him in the cyclocross World Championships once again will do a training block before starting his season at Tirreno-Adriatico, and also aim for Milano-Sanremo before the cobblestones. The two should meet at the E3 Saxo Classic, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix only.
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— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) February 14, 2025
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- Well that was boring and predictable. Let's hope that the men's race is a little more exciting.
santiagobenites22-03-2025 - Exactly, my thought too. Ganna is multi-talented, but a great descender he is not. He was gapped and overtook on the descend by Pidcock last year.
KerisVroom22-03-2025 - You nailed it Mr S.Cyclingsbestfan22-03-2025
- Now everybody knows about it Mads! Compressed brocoli? I know it is supposed to be good for you, but is high on my list of least favourite vegetablesCyclingsbestfan22-03-2025
- Again Armstrong posts get so much more response than any other posts on this site, and it is you guys that are making it easy for them to post more about Armstrong. Just check over the last 6 months and you will see the response is over 10x over other posts. Stop complaining and do not post or hit the like button, you are playing right into there hands.
Senna196022-03-2025 - i realize that Tommy knows VOLUMES more about his craft than i do, and i realize he maybe wasn’t bothering to give the most highly thought out answers of all time here, BUT… if mathieu gets to the TOP of the poggio first, how exactly is it that GANNA gets to the BOTTOM ahead of him? maybe the “frame pump in the spokes” trick from Breaking Away? ganna isn’t exactly what you’d call a gifted descender, and i’ve noticed mvdp is a PRETTY DECENT bike handler at any speed, not too shabby at cornering and accelerating… I’m glad tom feels good, though. it’ll be a really fun race. (but if van der poel DOES get to the top first, it’s over.)OCexile21-03-2025
- Don't think patience is something Tadej understands, he'll go when he feels its right to goslappers6621-03-2025
- And the final answer is …….MAYBE!mobk21-03-2025
- Agreed. Am Slovenian but she's strange rider, either the terrain fully suits her and she can be a leader or she's completely useless riding at the backvappaxbipmv21-03-2025
- My thoughts as well. The constant insertion of Armstrong, Bruyneel and even Hincrapie into news stories tends to give it away.
ScottG21-03-2025