Snow at altitude camp doesn’t seem to bother Wout van Aert
The situation is now well known: Wout van Aert is staying with a number of teammates at altitude in the Sierra Nevada. However, the Andalusian mountain range is covered in a thick layer of snow, which has been noted several times in recent days. Uno-X Mobility and Decathlon CMA CGM are also affected. Still, the Belgian seems to be having a great time, according to social media.
For over a week—since February 4th—seven riders from Visma | Lease a Bike have been training at altitude. Three and a half of the first five days of the camp had to be completed on the platform of the partner Rouvy due to weather conditions. Van Aert completed several Ironman routes there, ranging from 29 to nearly ninety kilometers. Necessity is the mother of invention, and in one of his posts, the Belgian even said he was starting to appreciate it. Photos by Davide Piganzoli show that he is having fun.
Earlier this week, Niklas Behrens shared a reel on Instagram revealing the harsh weather conditions in Spain. Following Friday's 127-kilometer training, the last three days have shown improvement. After a morning session on Rouvy, we see that Van Aert completed a climbing workout on Sunday of over 28.5 kilometers with 1,654 meters of elevation gain. The last two days featured rides of 119.5 kilometers and 191 kilometers respectively, with a total of more than 7,000 meters of climbing.
Grischa Niermann informed us from Oman that the first days of an altitude camp are always focused on acclimatization. “We had anticipated this and were prepared for the conditions,” the German added. So the upcoming two weeks should go well. Van Aert himself will remain at altitude in Spain until February 25th. Afterwards, he begins his season on Saturday, February 28th, at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Incidentally, it was the riders from Visma | Lease a Bike who wished to seek a different location than the Teide on Tenerife. Another downside there is that the hotel at altitude is often already fully booked. The riders were also a bit tired of the monotonous landscape of the former volcano on the Canary Island. So they opted for Sierra Nevada. This is one of the changes that emerged during internal analyses the team conducted this winter.
