📸 After a tough spring, van Aert swaps the bike for running shoes and shows (fresh) knee wounds

The first months of Van Aert's season were not smooth sailing. He started racing on the Iberian Peninsula: after the opening race in the Clásica Jaén, where he finished 39th, he headed to the Tour of the Algarve. He didn't get the win he hoped for, but the Visma rider did impress in the final trial. A week later came the opening weekend, with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where the Belgian didn't finish in the top ten once.

It was a disappointing start, but a high-altitude training camp in Spain should have taken him to the next level. In Tenerife, Van Aert racked up the necessary kilometers and meters of elevation gain, together with Tiesj Benoot and Wilco Kelderman. But once again, things did not go according to plan: second place in Dwars door Vlaanderen was a low point for the entire team, followed by three fourth places (Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and Amstel Gold Race) and another second place in the Brabantse Pijl.

There was no victory for the star rider, who faced much criticism. The focus is now on the grand tours, but first, van Aert will take a few days' rest. In Herentals, he put his bike aside and swapped his two wheels for running shoes. He ran almost 8 kilometers with his wife Sarah. The attached photo shows the Belgian's injured knee, which was in even worse shape than in the Vuelta. The crash in Paris-Roubaix had left its mark, with a bandage covering the battered leg.