Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot spice up training with Squadrats rivalry: "Wout drove through the parking lot of a hotel just to get that square"

Tiesj Benoot has found a new competitive obsession beyond professional cycling, Squadrats, a game where riders attempt to claim as many mapped-out squares on planet Earth as possible. What started as a niche pursuit among cycling enthusiasts has now made its way into the professional peloton, with Benoot and Wout van Aert locked in a battle to be top dog.

The concept is simple yet addictive. Squadrats is an app connected to Strava, tracking activities like cycling, running, walking, and even swimming to mark off mile-by-mile grid squares on a virtual map. The goal? Claim as many squares as possible and climb the global rankings.

"It's hard to explain, but it's basically a site that's connected to your Strava," Benoot said on the Stamcafé Koers podcast. "All your Strava files sync with Squadrats. The world map is divided into squares of a mile by a mile. The goal is to claim as many squares as possible. You can do that by cycling, running, walking, swimming... basically anything as long as it's not motorized."

Benoot first learned about Squadrats from his regular training partner Jari Vertstraeten. Since then, the game has started spreading through the peloton, with more and more riders getting hooked.

"In the meantime, Wout has already gotten used to it, and Sepp Kuss is also already on it. Many French pros know it too, such as Arnaud Démare and Kévin Vauquelin."

The game has led to some unusual detours, as riders chase new squares in their training sessions.

"I haven't been doing this for very long, but sometimes you have to do crazy things to claim a tile. During an internship in Mallorca, Wout drove through the parking lot of a hotel just to get that square."

Despite Van Aert’s dedication to the game, Benoot currently holds the upper hand in their personal rivalry, ranking 31st in the world, while Van Aert sits at 43rd. Given that professional cyclists train and race across multiple countries, they naturally rank high on the global leader board, simply by covering more ground than the average rider.

At the top of the Squadrats rankings is not a professional cyclist, but rather a French cycling adventurer Maximilian Schnell, who unexpectedly became the world’s number one without even knowing!

"I connect my Strava to everything I can. I actually didn't know I had created a Squadrats account until a friend sent me a message: 'Did you know you're number one?' Since then I've been keeping a closer eye on it."

For now, Squadrats remains a growing trend, but Benoot believes it could gain even more traction among bikepackers and pro riders alike.

"Squadrats is still quite young. If all bikepackers and pro riders were on Squadrats and I was still first, then yes, I would be really proud."