What condition?
If Wout van Aert had never opened his winter season so late, it is obviously because the revalidation following his fall on the 16th stage of the Vuelta (September 3) reduced him for a long time in a recovery that began a month ago after this accident. Deeply bruised by the Spanish asphalt, van Aert’s right knee required long specific work to regain stability impaired by damaged tendons. An injury which prevented the Antwerp resident from carrying out intense exercises in the saddle but bothered him even more during running sessions which he had to lighten up.
“At the beginning of November, there was clearly a one in two chance that Wout would skip the cross-country season, our late communication was absolutely not a bluff”assures his coach, Mathieu Heijboer. We must not hide it, Wout is behind in condition compared to the same time last winter.” Having returned from a collective training course in Spain during which he swallowed in a good week a little thousand of the 5,000 terminals he already has on the clock, van Aert mainly worked on his endurance in view of the next spring of the classics and did not got back on his cyclo-cross bike for the first time a week ago.
Last pages of a calendar practically identical to that of Mathieu van der Poel. After working on his condition under the Spanish sun in large volumes, the world champion only put his wheels back in the mud a good ten days ago. Enough, however, to quickly find his bearings and win the first three of the eleven cross-country races he will compete in this winter…
What ambitions?
“I only have to win one race in this winter campaign: the world championship (Liévin, February 2).” Winner Thursday in the mud of Gavere, Mathieu van der Poel very clearly identified the priority of a season during which he wishes to equal the rainbow record won by Eric De Vlaeminck (7). Except that, even if he assures “not wanting to leave the holiday period too tired”his natural talent has already reinstalled him on the throne of emperor of the discipline. “When we built my program for the coming months, I only asked the staff one question: will participating in certain cyclo-cross events help me to be stronger during the spring classics? The answer was yes. I honestly would have ignored it if someone had told me that it was counterproductive.” If he refuses to caricature an approach that some summarize as training for his road season, the rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck admits that it is also with the classics in mind that he produces his efforts in the slush. “It’s ideal for working out for intensity.”
Wout van Aert, for his part, wanted to rediscover the discipline that shaped him from the moment his knee allowed him to do so. “It’s like second nature to me.”smiles the Belgian. A passion for the discipline which will probably not rhyme this year with the highest ambitions. “Our sporting expectations were not high last year but they will be even less this time”recently whispered his trainer Mathieu Heijboer who thinks he will see his protégé fight for a top 5 this Friday. Before being able to fight for victory in a few weeks on the last two of the five crosses on his program (Benidorm on January 19, Maasmechelen on January 25)?
What oppositions?
The rivalry between the two biggest stars of the discipline will be written this season on the panels of a triptych Loenhout, Dendermonde (5/1), Maasmechelen (25/1). If van der Poel dreams of keeping his rainbow jersey, Wout van Aert has indeed voluntarily chosen not to participate in the World Cup. “We will follow the same approach as last year.”concludes Mathieu Heijboer by calling for the specific preparation that an optimal approach to the World Cup will require. But as it is what is rare that is most precious…
Cyclocross World Cup: “It was harder and harder with each lap”, confides Mathieu Van der Poel after his victory
