Results Marly Grav 2026 | Wout van Aert wins on return and beats another UAE rainbow jersey in first race since Paris-Roubaix victory

Wout van Aert made a winning return to racing at the Marly Grav, riding clear in the closing stages of the 150km gravel race in Valkenburg to underline his form four weeks after conquering Paris-Roubaix.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike star was racing for the first time since his landmark victory at the Hell of the North and quickly turned his surprise appearance in the UCI Gravel World Series into another show of strength on rough terrain.

Van Aert had already shaped the race from the early kilometres, but the decisive move came inside the final 25 kilometres. After spending much of the day in the key front group, the Belgian attacked on the run out of a forest path and immediately opened daylight on his rivals.

By the final 16.8 kilometres, Van Aert had built a 30 second lead over Niels Vandeputte, Rick Ottema, Jonathan Vervenne and gravel world champion Florian Vermeersch. Pascal Eenkhoorn followed at one minute, while the next group was already at 2:45. Inside the final kilometre, Van Aert still held a lead of more than half a minute, with the chase group left to fight for the podium behind.

For a road audience, there was an obvious echo to Van Aert’s previous race. Four weeks after winning Paris-Roubaix, he again finished off a race on rough roads after distancing a UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider in the rainbow jersey.

This time it was Vermeersch, the reigning gravel world champion, rather than Tadej Pogacar, and the stakes were very different. Still, the image was hard to miss: Van Aert alone in front, powering across broken terrain, with UAE’s rainbow jersey behind him.

The race had been active from early on. Van Aert moved to the front after just eight kilometres, then made a major acceleration with more than 100 kilometres still to race. Vermeersch was initially the only rider able to follow, before the race later settled into a larger front selection.

With around 80 kilometres remaining, Van Aert was in a four rider move alongside Vermeersch, Jonathan Vervenne and Georg Egger. That group was later joined by Vandeputte, Eenkhoorn and Ottema, before the front was gradually reduced again in the final phase.

Van Aert tested the group once more with around 60 kilometres to go, briefly going clear before being brought back. The winning attack came much later, after Eenkhoorn had already lost contact and the remaining leaders were beginning to look at each other.

For a rider whose last race ended with one of the biggest wins of his career at Roubaix, this was a very different kind of return. But Van Aert still turned it into a familiar picture: alone off the front, powering across rough terrain, with everyone else left chasing.