Wout Van Aert hits the ground running after a short illness briefly halted his cyclocross preparation

This winter, Wout van Aert will opt for a reduced cyclocross calendar that will see him compete for only 5 weeks. At least according to the initial work plans shared by his team week ago. Thus, unlike his biggest rival Mathieu van der Poel, the Belgian won't start racing already this weekend, nor will he attend the World Championships in Hulst. At least as far as the words of his Team Visma | Lease a Bike can be trusted. Of course, we remember vividly last season when the information provided was the same, yet the Belgian "changed" his mind to compete in Liévin where he added his fifth world championship silver medal.

But regardless, Van Aert's start of winter is not that far either. While it won't come this week yet, we can look forward to his participation in the World Cup Antwerpen on December 20, lining up next to Van der Poel and other cyclocross stars.

But how is the 31-year-old's pre-season preparation going?

The Belgian was sighted doing reckon of the Paris-Roubaix course earlier this off-season, but more recently got struck down for three days by an illness. Despite the awful timing, the Belgian made sure to hit the ground running as soon as possible and clocked in two "recovery" rides on his Strava. First was yesterday a 100-kilometer ride in Belgium. After that, Van Aert departed to Spain for a training camp with the Dutch team, but while stuck at an airport, he completed another 150-kilometer session, showcasing that his level didn't suffer much harm.