Classics, Giro, and Tour, with personal and shared ambitions: Wout van Aert knows 2025 will be busy year

After a tough year, Van Aert, who recently won the cyclo-cross races in Gullegem and Dendermonde, is already looking forward to 2025. "2024 was a season full of ups and downs. Besides some good results and victories, there were the two heavy crashes. That kept me off cycling for too long. Fortunately, I have recovered now. I am not quite at my top level yet, but it will be a while before the road season starts."

The Belgian never gives up, which also applies in this situation. He mainly tries to take the positives with him to 2025. "In the Vuelta I was back at my old top level, despite the heavy injury in the spring and the difficult period that followed. The good feeling I had again in Spain gives me a lot of confidence that I will return to top level again," he reflected on his crashes in Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Vuelta.

On Monday, he shared a video of his badly damaged knee on social media, but he says he experiences little or no discomfort anymore. "I think I have recovered well mentally and physically. There is still time until the real start of the season and so far I can train like I want to, so I don't think my injury is going to affect me anymore directly," Van Aert said.

The Belgian also committed his future to Visma | Lease a Bike last season. "The fact that I will stay with Visma | Lease a Bike until the end of my career obviously gives me peace of mind. It's a nice gesture from the team, that they even were thinking about such a contract. This team feels like home. I can get the best out of myself here, and we always go for the best results. That will be no different in 2025."

And what does next season mean? "Also in 2025 I want to go for victory in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Those are going to be my big goals in the spring. I will also ride the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, aiming to succeed in both races. In my case, that means winning stages, so it will be a busy year. Also, I will probably help the GC riders where necessary because we are going out twice with a strong team. In the Tour, we want to fight for the win again with Jonas at his best, and I'm looking forward to being part of that."

"We will approach the spring the same way we did last year, or at least the way we planned it then in advance. I will start with some races towards the Opening Weekend; then we will go on altitude training towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. After that, there won't be much time to prepare for the Giro, so we see that as one big block. Between the Giro and Tour, I'll go do some altitude training," says Wout about his fully scheduled season.