Wout van Aert chooses Road Race over Time-trial at World championships, Vanthourenhout confirms
Cycling
Wout van Aert is one of the most versatile riders in the peloton currently, and the winner of the final time-trial at the Tour de France. Nevertheless, he will not be present in the time-trial World championships, as he is set to fully focus on the road race.
In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, Belgium's team coach Sven Vanthourenhout has confirmed the absence of one of it's best time-trialists: "On the one hand it is a shame, because with Van Aert at the start you have a great chance of a medal, but on the other hand I understand the decision. Such a time trial is a heavy burden, and I understand that Wout wanted to make choices."
Having finished runner-up to Filippo Ganna on both occasions over the last two years, Vanthourenhout talked about the pressure on the Belgian's shoulders. "It's a mental issue. When Wout starts in the time trial, he takes a lot of pressure on his shoulders, because for a rider like him only the very highest is good enough," he explained. "For someone else, a silver medal can be fantastic, but not for him".
And with a specific goal in mind, the rainbow stripes in the road race, van Aert has made the decision to skip the time-trial event. “Last year, Wout walked around with a heavy feeling for a few days after the time trial — that silver played in his head. It could be another such scenario in Australia. That would be at the expense of his road trip.”
With a route that suits him very well in Wollongong with the combination of hills and the flat finish, the chances of netting the World championships are as good as any other rider. Van Aert is currently recovering after a fatiguing Tour de France and several post-Tour criteriums, and he will be back to competition soon to build on his attack at the Australian race.
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.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- This wouldn't make sense, he is close to retirement and doesn't have a spare year to feel out a new team.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
- Me too!!!!!Occam10-11-2026
- they can sign any 100 of top riders today but Pogi will win over Remco any time at the TDF unless something goes wrongabstractengineer10-11-2026
- the time for a GC rider to retire is when they cannot win stages, or have a significant level drop like from winner/podium into top 5/10 consistently. Roglic is still competitive and Froome raced even though he became pack fodder.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- He should be in a different team. It was detrimental. For them it does not matter if he does not develop. He should have gone to a team where they need him to succeed.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- Technically it is "strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others". But: 1. Marie did not endangered anyone. 2. Above rule 2.3.036 is a Road Cycling rule not CX. 3. In Cyclocross we have only not well defined "irregular sprint" without description what would that mean. But even if you use 2.3.036 for CX it is still wrongly applied rule.averagecyclist10-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment