"He chooses races where he thinks the level will not be too high" - Wout van Aert's reduced CX calendar carefully selected believes Bart Wellens

After much speculation, the winter cyclocross programme of Wout van Aert has now been revealed. In a reduced schedule, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star will take on just six races, and according to former world champion Bart Wellens, Van Aert's calendar has been very carefully selected.

"Six crosses is not much," admits Wellens, cyclocross world champion in both 2003 and 2004, in his analysis of Van Aert's imminent return to the field, for Het Nieuwsblad. "He has also selected them very well."

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As Wellens notes, every one of the races selected by Van Aert are ones that the Belgian is very capable of winning, despite his somewhat unclear form, given the crash-effected road season in 2024, having not been seen since his season-ending crash at the Vuelta a Espana back in September. 

“He starts again in Mol after a very tough weekend with Hulst and Zonhoven. In Loenhout there will not be many top riders at the start and the day before Gullegem you have Koksijde," explains Wellens thoughtfully. "Okay, he will double with Dendermonde, but if it is really tough there, he will have the advantage again.”

“Benidorm and Maasmechelen are tailor-made for him,” the 46-year-old Belgian continues. “It is a well-thought-out programme, in which he chooses races where he thinks the level will not be too high and where he can compete for the prizes.”

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