Wout van Aert and his Visma-Lease a Bike staff have introduced the Belgian will journey simply six cyclocross races this winter and confirmed that he’ll once more not goal the World Championships in early February.
Van Aert continues to be recovering from the collection knee damage he suffered in a crash on the Vuelta a España and is prioritising his 2025 highway racing season.
He’ll race six main cyclocross races that slot in with Visma-Lease a Bike’s coaching camps and the vacation season.
Lengthy-term rival Mathieu van der Poel can be anticipated to announce a diminished cyclocross marketing campaign and Tom Pidcock could determine to keep away from racing within the mud, as highway ambitions take a number one position of their careers.
Van Aert’s first block of cyclocross racing is in Belgium contains the the Superprestige Mol – Zilvermeercross on December 23, the Actual Cross Loenhout – Azencross on December 27, the Superprestige Gullegem on January 4 and the Dendermonde World Cup race on January 5.
Van Aert will then head to Spain for the Visma-Lease a Bike January coaching camp after which journey the Benidorm World Cup race on January 19. He’ll finish his six-race cyclocross marketing campaign on the Maasmechelen World Cup on January 25.
“This winter, we’ve opted for a compact schedule of six races that match nicely into my coaching plan. It is going to be a cyclocross season I strategy purely out of affection for the game, however with modest ambitions,” Van Aert defined.
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“After my crash within the Vuelta and my knee damage, it’s important to make the very best use of the time I’ve to organize for the highway season. A couple of cyclocross races match properly into that plan, however the schedule is intentionally extra restricted than in earlier years.”
Van Aert was pressured to desert the Vuelta a España after he crashed on the descent of the Collada Llomena on stage 16 to Lagos de Covadonga. At the moment, Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed that he suffered extreme knee ache brought on by a deep wound.
He returned to coaching on the highway on October 4th and continues to be combining physiotherapy work with coaching. He’s scheduled to attend an upcoming Visma-Lease a Bike coaching camp in Spain.
Van Aert is a three-time cyclocross world champion however will use the six races to enhance his highway coaching. He isn’t anticipating to be on kind when he makes his cyclocross debut on December 23.
“That would be the first goal to work towards, however I definitely received’t attain my highest stage there,” he made clear, hinting at greater ambitions in late January when he might conflict with Van der Poel.
“There are two nice races on the calendar in Benidorm and Maasmechelen, the place I anticipate to be in higher situation. I’m extremely excited to get again into the sector and look ahead to reconnecting with the followers,” Van Aert concluded.