Jan Boven on Wout van Aert's comeback: "He might need some time to adjust, but we thought the same thing 2 years ago"

Wout van Aert is making his return to cyclocross this coming Saturday in Essen. The Belgian from Jumbo-Visma aims to get back into the game in the Exact Cross there, before heading off with the road team to a training camp in Spain, and then starting the busy Christmas period. IDLProCycling.com spoke with Jumbo-Visma's off-road team director Jan Boven about the planning for the superstar from Herentals.

First of all: how is it for the off-road team director on duty that Van Aert will be seen less in cyclocross and is also skipping the World Championships? "This is a program that we have thought out together, so it's a great plan. We have made good decisions, and it's also difficult: in winter we want him to race every cross-country race, and in summer they want to see him in every race, but that's not possible," explains Boven, summing up the difficulty of being 'Wout van Aert' in a few words. "But you have to make choices." And those are now leaning more towards the classics period and the Giro, which Boven thinks is more than logical.

Van Aert starts cyclocross season earlier than Pidcock and Van der Poel

So, what can we expect from Van Aert in Essen exactly? "In my opinion, Wout, but also Mathieu and Tom, are such that even if they are a bit off, they can still compete well. The preparation is going well, and it will be a bit of an adjustment, but we thought the same two years ago and then he won in Boom by a two-minute margin," Boven points out.

Another notable thing: Van Aert has chosen to start one week earlier than Pidcock (who starts on December 16 in Herentals) and two weeks earlier than Van der Poel (December 22 in Mol). What's the reason behind this? "Essen is a cross that he has done more often, and he really enjoys that cross, so it's also fun to get back into the field after some training." However, this means that we will not see Van Aert in action in his home cross in Herentals, which was moved from early January to mid-December. "Then we will be on a training camp with the road team," confirms Boven.