Wout van Aert made an appearance this afternoon at Tim Declercq's farewell criterium, and there the Visma | Lease a Bike rider also dared to cautiously look ahead to his cyclocross program.
"For a criterium, my legs are good enough, but for a real cyclocross race, I still need a bit of training," he laughed to Sporza when asked if he will soon take to the mud.
"In the coming weeks, I still have some commitments, and after that the real work begins. I want to first wait a few weeks of training to see when it makes sense to resume. There’s also a long road season ahead, so we need to make a smart plan," says Van Aert, who has been training for about two weeks now.
For Declercq, he did already get on the bike to race. "Tim has become a good friend in the peloton. I was free this weekend, and that helped. It’s nice to celebrate his farewell together. In the peloton, it’s often hard racing, but friendships go beyond teams, and we also have mutual friends. Tim deserves a lot of respect. The wider public often overlooks how important a rider like him is, but in the peloton everyone knows his true value."
