Another Belgian Championship for Van Aert? Roubaix winner recons route before Sunday's return to racing

Back again! Wout van Aert took a break after his phenomenal victory in Paris-Roubaix, but this weekend the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike will be back in competition. Yet his thoughts are not entirely on the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, as he showed on Strava. The Paris-Roubaix winner clearly has a big goal later in mind for June

For Van Aert, the year is already a success. After a somewhat sluggish spring, he found his rhythm in Milan-San Remo, where he finished an impressive third after a chase. A second place in Dwars door Vlaanderen and fourth in the Tour of Flanders followed, but his victory on the Roubaix velodrome will forever be etched into the memories of cycling fans.

After that magnificent win, it was time for a short break for the Belgian. He was only due to return to racing in June. Still, at the start of May he opted for a special detour: he put on his race shoes again for the UCI Gravel World Series event in Limburg. Around Valkenburg, he was immediately the best, beating world champion Florian Vermeersch and Niels Vandeputte, among others.

The 31-year-old from Herentals then left the road bike alone for a while, at least in racing terms. The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné, was to be his next challenge on the road to the Tour de France. That race starts this weekend, but before that Van Aert has been busy scouting the Belgian national championships.

The race starts in Antwerp, but after 140 kilometres it reaches Brasschaat, where a local 20.3-kilometre circuit is raced five times. And on Van Aert’s Strava page, it can be seen that he completed a 130-kilometre training ride on Thursday, including exactly that lap. “Reconnaissance in the Brasschaat nature reserve,” he wrote above the effort. The intention seems clear.

Van Aert was Belgian champion in 2021, but a new title looks high on his list. It would then be his second road title: he has won the Belgian time trial championship three times. The Belgian championships take place on 28 June, one week before the Tour de France. After La Grande Boucle, the Belgian intends to line up at the Vuelta a España.