Mathieu van der Poel hinted several times last weekend at the end of his cyclocross career. Within his circle, the tone is somewhat more moderated, but there is a chance he might skip the cyclocross season next winter to try a different preparation and come back even stronger for the spring classics. Wout van Aert is already changing his approach for next spring.
Het Laatste Nieuws has obtained a provisional schedule for the Belgian leader of Visma | Lease a Bike. Whereas Van Aert in recent years consistently chose a high-altitude training camp in March after the Opening Weekend, that plan appears to have been dropped. According to the Belgian newspaper, he will start in the Italian one-day races Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo. Van Aert won the gravel classic and the first Monument of the season in 2020.
Afterwards, he will of course also contest the rest of the classics. In the summer, the Tour de France is back on the program and—if selected—Van Aert also aims for the World Championships in Canada. The ideal preparation for that seems to be participation in the GP de Québec and the GP de Montréal two weeks prior, so that he has enough time to acclimate afterwards. Moreover, the final circuit of the Worlds road race largely overlaps with the GP de Montréal course.
Revenge for the crash? - photo: fotopersburo Cor Vos
According to information from HLN, Van Aert is opting for an alternative route toward the Worlds. He is reportedly choosing a new participation in the Vuelta a España after the Tour. The Belgian still has unfinished business with the Spanish Grand Tour. In 2024, he won three stages and led both the points and mountains classifications, until he had to abandon during stage sixteen due to a serious crash. He injured his knee in the process, an issue that is expected to haunt him well into 2025.
Whether Van Aert will actually follow through with this program remains to be seen. On January 13, Visma | Lease-A-Bike has scheduled a media day. That will likely reveal whether Van Aert will also tack on the 2026 cyclocross World Championships in Hulst onto his cyclocross winter season.
Wout van Aert| Race | Date |
|---|---|
| Telenet Superprestige Heusden-Zolder | 23 Dec |
| UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup - Dendermonde | 28 Dec |
| X²O Badkamers Trofee Azencross - Loenhout | 29 Dec |
| Exact Cross - Mol | 2 Jan |
| UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup - Zonhoven | 4 Jan |
| Belgian National Championships CX | 11 Jan |
 Strade Bianche | 7 Mar |
| Milano-Sanremo | 21 Mar |
| Ronde van Vlaanderen | 5 Apr |
 Paris-Roubaix | 12 Apr |
| Tour de France | 4 Jul - 26 Jul |
 Vuelta a España | 22 Aug - 13 Sep |
 UCI World Championship Montréal | 27 Sep |
