"Our plan with Wout is already clear" - Cyclocross return already set out for Wout van Aert later this winter

Wout van Aert had a very unlucky season on the road with two major crashes at key points of the year. At the Vuelta a España he fell on stage 16 and suffered a deep knee wound that has stayed with him for months. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike reportedly has issues with running still, but is slowly improving. A member of the team's staff provides some insight into the process.

"No, there is no additional information. He is not ahead of schedule; let me put it this way," Jan Boven told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Our plan with Wout is already clear, and little has changed. But when we announce something, you will read it on the team's site. I can't tell you anything about that here right now."

This is a clear indicator that despite the obstacles faced in van Aert's recovery and the complexity of his injury, that he is on his way up and that most likely the team already have a schedule lined up for the Belgian to return to cyclocross. This could in theory be in a few weeks after the end of the team's training camp on the 19th December, but it could be delayed for January - depending on his form and ambitions for the off-road discipline.

He's not alone at the moment when it comes to the unknown date of return for the discipline, taking into consideration that Mathieu van der Poel's schedule has also not yet been revealed; Tom Pidcock said he'd race a few events but also talked about how it's very far from his priorities; and virtually no rider who focuses on the road season has talked about his first race in the cyclocross season this winter.

At the start of December now we have just seen the second round of the World Cup won by Michael Vanthourenhout, who is also leading the competition now ahead of Eli Iserbyt. Next weekend we'll have the third round in Italy where a few riders are also expected to be absent; before kicking in the most popular time of the year for the sport - the Christmas block.