"The door is a bit open": Wout Van Aert's non-participation at cyclocross Worlds may not be as finite as it seemed...

Finally, Team Visma | Lease a Bike published the long-awaited winter calendar of three-time cyclocross world champion Wout Van Aert. And already in his debut in Antwerp, he'll clash heads with arch-rival Mathieu van der Poel who kicks off the 2025/26 season one week earlier. Van Aert will race extensively through the Christmas racing block, but stop at Belgian Championships at the start of January. No World Championships.

And while Van Aert will not shoot for his fourth rainbow stripes in Hulst, Van der Poel has confirmed his presence, and will try to get that 8th title which would be the historical record by surpassing the 7 that Erik de Vlaeminck also has.

But there is one reason in particular why Wout van Aert's presence at the World Championships in Hulst cannot be ruled out.

Last winter, Visma | Lease a Bike also did not make official Van Aert's participation in the battle for the rainbow jersey when his initial calendar was released. In the end, however, the Belgian did appear at the start of the Liévin 2025 World Championships, where he took yet another silver medal behind his great rival, Van der Poel himself.

Then it was only a week before the start of the World Championships that Visma confirmed Wout Van Aert's participation.

In addition to the above, there are also statements by performance manager of Visma | Lease a Bike Mathieu Heijboer to Wielerflits:

"I don't completely refuse to participate in the World Championships. As far as we are concerned, the door is a bit open. We'll make that decision later, but for now, it's not in our plans. If we see later that he's feeling so good, that cyclocross is going well, that he's recovering well and that he's ahead of schedule, then the opportunity may come up."