Van Aert shares ankle update and looks ahead to World Championship: “I can’t make it more exciting than it is”

On the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast, Van Aert first gave an update on his ankle. “It’s going well,” he told Laurens ten Dam and Stefan Bolt. “Riding came back amazingly quickly, but actually training took time. After the first rides, I had to use my hand to pull my foot out of the pedal, because that diagonal movement when unclipping really hurt.”

Bad luck struck just after the turn of the year. On 2 January, Van Aert crashed in the wintry cyclo-cross race in Mol, just as he looked ready to put Mathieu van der Poel under pressure. He was forced to abandon, and tests later revealed a small fracture in the ankle. It was another blow for Van Aert, who has had his share of misfortune in an otherwise glittering career.

In the meantime, the Visma | Lease a Bike rider has already completed training rides of more than six hours. Things are clearly heading in the right direction, but it is not perfect yet. “Walking is almost normal, and on the bike I can already accelerate a bit coming out of corners. So it’s getting closer to being a normal person again. But you’re still thinking about it every day. And full sprinting still isn’t possible.”

Partly because Van Aert is out, there now seems to be just one clear favourite for the world title: Van der Poel. The Dutchman looks almost impossible to stop from taking an eighth world crown. There is not much genuine opposition at the moment. Tibor Del Grosso and Thibau Nys have shown good things, but usually at a respectful distance — often in the fight for second place.

When Van der Poel goes, the rest often stays put and commits fully to silver. “That may play a smaller role for me, because I’ve been racing against him my whole career,” Van Aert explained. “And maybe all those other guys put just a bit more value on being the first one behind Mathieu. I just race to try and beat him. In every race I go to the limit to follow him, or do everything I can.”

Sometimes rivals do try to follow, but then end up paying for it later in the race. “Tibor has had a super-strong season, but you often see him build a nice gap on the rest,”Van Aert said. “And before you know it, he drops back into the chasing group. Then he’s ridden half a lap over his limit just to stay near Mathieu. You can’t underestimate the level difference right now.”

So Van Aert is also pencilling in his eternal rival as the winner on Sunday. “I can’t make it more exciting than it is. Mathieu is so far above the rest — he even seems a bit better than he was around Christmas.” Maasmechelen made that crystal clear, in his view. “There he rode like his condition had improved by another 10%. You simply couldn’t go faster around that course, because then the stakes start coming out of the ground.

As podium candidates, Van Aert mentioned Del Grosso — but especially Thibau Nys, despite a more difficult spell. After last weekend, his compatriot looked downbeat. “I know Thibau personally, and he dares to dramatise quite quickly. I think that’s just how he’s wired,” Van Aert said. “But I give him a big chance of making the podium, because he’s usually there on the big days. At championships, he always shows up.”