He has had a longer rest period – including a cultural trip to Rome – but Wout van Aert is now back on the bike. In preparation for his cyclocross campaign, he completed his first training ride of over one hundred kilometers, although it didn’t exactly go smoothly.
“Cramped,” the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike describes his training ride on the popular app Strava. Van Aert spent more than three hours on the bike for a 107-kilometer training session. His average speed? Just over 32 kilometers per hour.
This is the first time since his appearance in the Super 8 Classic (September 20) that Van Aert has uploaded anything on Strava, apart from a running session of about ten kilometers. Over the past few weeks, he has kept active on Instagram, sharing plenty of snapshots from Rome, where he was on vacation with his wife Sarah.
When Van Aert will be seen racing again is still unknown. He has previously stated that he will definitely participate in cyclocross. However, he rules out an early start to the cyclocross season. “My last race is on September 20, after which I will definitely take a month off. I’ll start training again at the beginning of November. We’ll take it step by step,” the leader of Visma | Lease a Bike said earlier.
First quizzing, then cyclocross
The 31-year-old rider will first make an appearance in the new season of… De Slimste Mens (The Smartest Person). The hugely popular Flemish TV quiz – hosted by Erik Van Looy – has already started and is aired on the Belgian channel Play4. Van Aert is certainly not the first cyclist to appear on De Slimste Mens. Jan Bakelants and Oliver Naesen have previously been tempted to participate.
