Paul Herygers: "Wout van Aert no longer has to prove himself. It's high time he started thinking about himself"

After Wout van Aert made a winning return to cyclocross action, albeit with a much-reduced calendar, anticipation is building for the Belgian to compete once again against his old rival Mathieu van der Poel. For Paul Herygers however, it's great to see the Belgian finally putting himself first.

“For me, Wout van Aert no longer has to prove himself. It's high time he started thinking about himself, and I notice he is doing that now," Herygers says of the talented Belgian, multi-discipline superstar to Wielerflits. "He doesn't look at his own people. Herentals, Lille: those crosses were made for him, so to speak. Yet he says: 'I'm not there this time.' When I hear that, all I can think is: 'well done, Wout.' It's high time to grab that big classic on the road. Then a radically different approach might be the solution for him.”

As mentioned, compared to last year, van Aert's winter calendar is much reduced. “I think the Hoogerheide World Championship has encouraged that,” says Herygers. “If he had bridged that last meter in that sprint, it might have been the same scenario as all previous years. Van Aert hard at work, driving in the dark, winning against Van der Poel. Be careful, I'm not saying that his new way of thinking will suddenly bring about great results. We can only draw up that balance later. But he is capable of more than he showed during the classics last year.”

“He needs the cross to keep the engine going so that it doesn't rust. The past teaches us that the cross is not a bad approach," adds Erwin Vervecken. "I see cyclo-cross as an ideal way to maintain intensity, as long as you do it in moderation. Last year it was too much. Two months at full throttle was probably too long.”

“Don't underestimate the mental burden. Coming to the cross for a day is much more than spending an hour on the bike. Every time it is the journey by car, interviews before the cross and after the cross," Vervecken continues. "There are supporters at the mobile home who want something from you, et cetera, et cetera. That may have been less when Van Aert and Van der Poel were not yet such big stars, but now we almost have to talk about world stars, right? These public exposures also weigh in the long term.”