Wout van Aert: "It's obvious that we go with two leaders to the Championship"

The World Championships are right at the door and Belgium's selection includes both Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel who both have strong arguments towards their leadership in Australia.

“For sure I learned from it and I also think we learnt from it as a team. It's obvious that we go with two leaders to the Championship in Wollongong," Van Aert told reporters after completing the Canadian classics in fourth and second place respectively. The Belgian has been building up towards the Worlds, and has put on the climbing performances needed to convince of his leadership. He will be joined by Vuelta a Espana winner Remco Evenepoel however who presents a similar case.

“Remco and I have always had respect for each other. The issues of last year were something that should not have happened in the media. I was quickly over it and I don’t see any problem with working together. I think we both learned from it," van Aert said however. Evenepoel will be racing the individual time-trial, and has said that if his form isn't the best he would work for van Aert. The route should favour the Jumbo-Visma rider, having a flat sprint that benefits riders like him, after the hilly section of the course.

Last year there was a lot of discussion around Belgium's tactics, to a point where the team blew their chances after being put in a position of men to beat - at home in Leuven. This year however the circuit is very different, and “it's better to have Remco as a co-leader and to race together instead," van Aert argued. "That's something we for sure learned as a team and I think can make all the difference this year. Remco is not fast in a sprint but he can attack from afar. I can maybe wait a bit more and also have a good chance in a smaller group.”

The 27-year old is travelling to Australia soon, and has commented on the circuit that the riders will face: “It sounds really familiar to what we know in Belgium and the Classics. I think I’ve proved I'm really strong on kicker climbs like that and so that’s good for my confidence. It’ll still be a super hard race and I think we have a super strong team. We can race to our own strengths.”

“I feel I’m still improving year on year, not only in my experience but also how I get into the best shape possible. I keep building on the base year on year. I think I’ve improved a lot in the final hour of the tough 250km races. That was a weakness but I’ve made some changes in training and it’s worked out," he argued. That will be critical, as the route to Wollongong features over 4000 meters of climbing and a whole 267 kilometers in distance.