"I’ll take those conversations to my grave", writes NBA legend Reggie Miller, after 'unfiltered conversation' with Van Aert

Wout van Aert is clearly enjoying himself on a sponsor trip in the United States. The 31-year-old Belgian travelled with a Visma | Lease a Bike delegation to California to visit several of the team’s key sponsors. Across a few days, Van Aert was spotted in a basketball arena, behind the wheel of a race car, and of course also on the bike — where he seemed very much his honest, unfiltered self.

Visma | Lease a Bike kept fans updated throughout the week on everything Van Aert got up to. The first stop was bike partner Cervélo, before he took in an LA Lakers game, set blistering laps in a Porsche at a circuit, shot some hoops with NBA legend Reggie Miller, and joined several rides around California.

One of those rides was a big community spin — nearly 46 kilometres along the Santa Monica coast. On Strava, Van Aert dubbed it the “Red Bull Rollout,” which tells you it didn’t cost him much sweat. In a team video, he was seen cruising past the entire group of keen riders with ease.

“Together with Red Bull, we organised a big ride-out in Los Angeles. We had to cap entries at 200 — otherwise 600 people would have shown up. It’s great to do events like this: you create strong content, but you also give something back to the community,” said team Head of Marketing Sven van der Lugt to Sporza.

On the same day as the big fan ride, Van Aert also squeezed in a 26.28-kilometre spin with Miller. The pair tackled a stingy climb: Miller on the front with his tongue nearly on the tarmac, Van Aert smiling in the slipstream. “This photo shows why things can look different than they really are. You can’t believe everything you see.”

Because although a photo of Miller and Van Aert together might suggest the American was loving life uphill, that was absolutely not the case. “I might be riding a bit ahead of one of the most talented riders in the peloton, and it may look like we’re both smiling, but while Wout was in Zone 1 on a 10% climb, I was slowly dying!”

Thankfully, there was also a downhill, where the two had a great time, Miller wrote. “Luckily I could hang on deep in the red, but the gap between a pro and an average tourist is enormous. Thank you, Wout, for all the training tips you gave and for an unfiltered conversation about what really goes on in the peloton. I’ll take those conversations to my grave", he concluded.