Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Monday November 4, 2024 at 5:04 p.m.
Injured in one knee due to a fall in the Vuelta, Wout Van Aert will return to competition around Christmas, in cyclo-cross, his coach Jan Boven said.
Since September 3 and his fall during the 16th stage of the Vuelta towards the Covadonga Lakes, we have not seen Wout Van Aert on a bike again. The 30-year-old Belgian rider, then wearing the green jersey, had deeply cut his knee, without a fracture, which ended his road season. A season of 55 days of racing and five victories (including three in the Vuelta) which was marked by falls, since he had already been injured at the end of March during A Travers la Flanders, which had earned him almost two months off. But in a few weeks, Wout Van Aert will return to a bike, in cyclo-cross! As has been the case since he began his career, the Belgian will race cyclo-cross during the winter, and his resumption is planned around Christmas. “Wout is now going to Spain for two and a half weeks to train,” Visma-Lease a Bike coach Jan Boven told the Dutch website. Cycling flash. After that we will meet, but it will only resume after the team training camp, which will end on December 19.” According to the Cyclo-cross World Cup calendar, Wout Van Aert could therefore return on December 21 in Hulst (Netherlands), on the 22 in Zonhoven (Belgium) or on the 26 in Gavere (Belgium).
A new duel with Van der Poel?
Last winter, Wout Van Aert took part in eight cyclo-cross races and won three, but only one counted for the World Cup. The 2016, 2017 and 2018 world champion and three-time winner of the World Cup (2016, 2017, 2021) was unable to do anything against his great rival Mathieu van der Poel, winner of thirteen of the fourteen cyclo-cross races in which he participated, and was crowned world champion. For this winter, the Dutchman has not yet decided whether he is going to race in this discipline. The opportunity for Van Aert to reconnect with victories and confidence before starting a sixth season with Visma-Lease a Bike, with whom he signed a permanent contract?
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