Van Aert opens up about 2027 cyclocross plans: 'I'm not eager to start racing yet'

He hasn't taken to the track himself yet, but he has been able to enjoy the races on TV. "I've already watched a few motocross races," he tells VTM Nieuws. “Georges is sitting quietly next to me on the couch and seems even more focused than I am, but I don’t agree that the cyclocross races haven’t been exciting to watch. It’s thrilling and remains a spectacular sport.”

He did, however, notice one cause for concern. “As a fan, it pains me a little to see that there may have been fewer people at the recent cyclocross races. My best experience in cyclocross is also riding through that wall of noise from the spectators standing row upon row, but talking negatively about it now isn’t going to help. So I definitely don’t want to do that either.”

The entire cyclocross world has been focusing on Van der Poel and Van Aert’s winter training in recent weeks. When will they hit the track? Last year, Van Aert was already there in Antwerp on December 20. That was right in the middle of a Visma | Lease a Bike training camp, but he won’t be taking that approach again. “I’ll be staying in Belgium for the next few weeks until the team training camp in Spain, which starts on December 8.”

One option is to break up his winter: cyclocross, training camp, cyclocross. But Van Aert isn’t keen on that. He’s not in the mood for cyclocross yet.

“I’m not eager to start racing cyclocross just yet. I’ve only been training for a week. The focus is still on building a foundation, and I haven’t done any specific training yet. Give me another three weeks to see where my fitness stands and how much more training I’ll need before I’m race-ready. Nothing’s set in stone just yet.”

Last year, he competed in only six races during the winter, though his season was cut short by a crash and a broken ankle in Mol. Otherwise, he would have raced eight times. Don’t expect the Visma | Lease a Bike rider to compete in ten or fifteen cyclocross races this year either. “It’s a realistic estimate that it will be around that number again,” he says, referring to the proposed eight races.

One thing you can already mark on your calendar in bold is the Cyclocross World Championships in Ostend. Van Aert already finished second there behind Van der Poel in 2021, due to multiple flat tires. “A World Championship in my own country is more appealing than one that’s far away. I already raced in a World Championship in Ostend in 2021 without an audience, and I’d love to experience it with a huge crowd.”