The Dutch team has already taken to the roads of Flanders and northern France this week. On Monday, a group led by superstar Wout van Aert inspected sections of the Tour of Flanders, while on Tuesday the Visma | Lease a Bike team rode parts of the Paris-Roubaix course. This resulted in spectacular photos, which the World Tour racing team published on its Instagram account.
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When does Wout van Aert start the cyclocross season?
For van Aert it was also a return to the Kanarieberg, where he crashed heavily on the approach to the 2024 Cross Flanders race in March. It was not the only setback for the Belgian this year. Just as he was returning to top form, he had to end his road season after a Crash at the Vuelta a Espana finish. This crash could also have a significant impact on the cyclocross season of the three-time cyclocross world champion. How Het Laatste Nieuws According to the latest report, the knee injury that van Aert sustained in the crash is still affecting his running, which is extremely unfavourable when you consider the running sections in the cyclo-cross races. It is therefore questionable whether the 30-year-old will be able to start his cyclocross campaign after a training camp in December, as originally planned.
At least van Aert can train on the bike at the moment, as he proved at the beginning of the week. Among the riders accompanying the Belgian was Niklas Behrens, who will be riding for Visma | Lease a Bike from 2025. The U23 road world champion from Zurich shared some impressions of his ride with his future colleagues on his Instagram account.
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On Monday, van Aert and his team-mates rode around 100 kilometres, taking on many of the climbs known from the spring classics, such as the Molenberg, Valkenberg, Berg Ten Houte and the Kanarieberg, as can be seen in van Aert's Strava file.
On Tuesday, the professionals from Visma | Lease a Bike rode around 130 kilometres from northern France back to Oudenaarde in Belgium. Warlaing, Orchies, Mons en Pevele, Templeuve, Wannehain, Camphin en Pevele, Carrefour de l'Arbre, Gruson - all sectors familiar from Paris-Roubaix and which appear in van Aert's Strava data.
Tyre pressure system for the 2025 classics?
Some of the pros from Visma | Lease a Bike rode with a system for adjusting the tyre pressure while riding using a hub pump from Gravaa. Van Aert captioned his Instagram story with the song "Pump it Up" and tagged the Dutch manufacturer in it. Gravaa's design was already in use at Paris-Roubaix 2023 by some riders from the then Team Jumbo-Visma, the predecessor of Visma | Lease a Bike. The system last made a name for itself at the 2024 Gravel World Championships when Marianne Vos became world champion. It is possible that it will be used by van Aert in next year's classics in the battle against Mathieu van der Poel and co. and will once again dominate the headlines.
