Wout van Aert expected to make cyclocross season debut in Kortrijk on November 26
Jumbo-Visma all-terrain ace likely to see stacked cyclocross schedule ahead of world championships bid.
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From Kortrijk to the world championships, Wout van Aert will be busy this winter.
Het Laatste Nieuws reports Van Aert is eyeing a stacked cyclocross schedule for the coming months.
The initial sketch suggests Van Aert is likely to make his season debut in the city center Kortrijk circuit November 26.
Race organizers suggested Jumbo-Visma’s all-terrain ace will be on the startline for World Cup Hulst the following day, though the Dutch ‘cross is not part of the program revealed by HLN on Sunday.
From Kortrijk, Van Aert is expected to pedal, run and bunny-hop his way through a ‘cross calendar highlighted by World Cups, the Belgian championships, and a season-ending return to ‘cross worlds.
And there won’t be much time for the Belgian to relax during the Christmas period, with the 28-year-old looking at around seven races in the so-called “kersteperiode” of festive racing.
Van Aert is expected to make official confirmation of his cyclocross program Thursday.
The initial schedule reported by HLN makes for a pivot from the stripped-back schedule Van Aert followed in 2021-22. Last winter, the multiple CX champion raced only 10 times – and won nine of them – before he bypassed the Fayetteville worlds as he focused fully on the “opening weekend” of the road classics.
Van Aert’s Jumbo-Visma team already confirmed the spring one-dayers are the center of its team captain’s ambitions for 2023 as he hunts an elusive Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix victory in mid-April.
Reigning world champion Tom Pidcock also announced he would make his cyclocross season debut and muddy his fresh white-and-rainbow jersey for the first time at Merksplas on November 19.
Wout van Aert’s provisional cyclocross schedule reported by HLN:
- Kortrijk X20 Trofee: Nov 26
- (TBC) Antwerp World Cup: Dec 4
- Dublin World Cup: Dec 11
- Team training camp
- Gavere World Cup: Dec 26
- (TBC) Zolder Superprestige: Dec 27
- Diegem Superprestige: Dec 28
- Loenhout Azencross: Dec 30
- Baal X20 Trofee / GP Sven Nys: Jan 1
- Herentals X20 Trofee: Jan 3
- Koksijde X20 Trofee: Jan 5
- (TBC) Gullegem Superprestige: Jan 7
- Zonhoven World Cup: Jan 8
- Belgian championships: Jan 15
- Benidorm World Cup: Jan 22
- World championship (Hoogerheide): Feb 5