Wout van Aert starts his 2024 season in late December with cyclocross races. He will take part in a few events and he will then fully prepare for the road season. As we already know, Wout van Aert will not ride at the World Cyclocross Championships in Tábor as he wants to be fresh for the road season.
This opinion article has been written by Lukáš Ronald Lukács.
Then the short rest period will come, but it will not take too long, and we will see Van Aert racing again. If the rumours are true he should take part in the Volta ao Algarve, which is a stage-race in Portugal before heading to Strade Bianche.
Then many would expect Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris Nice, Milano-Sanremo, and also E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem, but there is a possibility that he will not ride any of them. Instead, he will go to a training camp in altitude to prepare for the Giro. But after the training camp, he will certainly ride the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix as he wants to finally want another monument. But before that, he should take part also at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
For many classics riders, rest will come after the monuments with no races for two months, but not for Wout van Aert, because he will ride the Giro d’Italia next year. And from my side, it is a very understandable decision. He is simply a winner and wants to win and ride for himself and not just babysit Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour.
And only time will tell if Wout van Aert will go also for GC or just stages and maybe ciclamino. If he wants to try to go for the general classification, this Giro is very good for that. The route is really not that hard and I understand him very much, that he simply wants to try to do it at least once in his career.
Then after the longer rest period and maybe the Belgian National Championships, the Olympics will come, where he can start not only in road race but also in individual time trial. The route is very good for him and also the strong Belgian team will support him very well. He will hope that he can break the silver curse as he was second in many big races in the last few years.
Then we will have to see if Wout van Aert would want to ride also La Vuelta. I personally think not as he will have the sight to the World Championships and I think another Grand Tour would be too much for him, but maybe he will feel fresh enough to ride also the Vuelta.
Then we will have the World Championships in Zürich which suits riders that are also good at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. And these riders are Pogačar and Evenepoel. And riders like Van der Poel will need to climb a lot better than usual to think about the rainbow jersey. But Wout van Aert can have a chance. And this will be the race where Wout van Aert will probably end his road season.
Road season will end here, but I am sure, that Wout van Aert will go to the Gravel World Championships which will be next year in Leuven, Belgium. The race will go on in the 6th of October 2024.
WOUT VAN AERT’S GOALS FOR 2024:
Cyclocross races
Tour of Flanders
Paris-Roubaix
Giro d’Italia (Stages? GC? Ciclamino?)
Olympics (Road Race; ITT?)
Road World Championships (Road Race; ITT?)
Gravel World Championships
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.
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