Van Aert in full preparation for Belgian Gravel Championships in his own backyard

Wout van Aert will head to Spain this month to compete in the Vuelta a España. The Belgian has already won three stages in the year’s final Grand Tour and will be aiming for even more success. But the Visma | Lease a Bike rider will first take on the Belgian Gravel Championships. This will be his first time competing in that race, and he's hard at work in preparation for it.

Van Aert missed the Tour de France due to an elbow injury he sustained in a crash during training. It was a major setback for the 31-year-old from Herentals, but he recovered well from it. Upon his return to racing, he hit the ground running: he won no fewer than three of the five stages in the Tour of Denmark and also clinched the overall victory.

It was all part of his preparation for the Vuelta. This will be Van Aert’s second appearance in the Tour of Spain; he also competed in the race in 2024. Back then, he was in top form: he won three stages, finished second twice, third once, and fifth once. However, a crash on the sixteenth stage brought an abrupt end to the race and resulted in another serious injury. Will he be looking for redemption?

Maybe so, but Van Aert has another goal first. This Sunday, he’ll be on the starting line of the Belgian Gravel Championship. Rumors had been swirling for some time, but the organizers have confirmed—along with starting spots for riders including Tim Merlier and defending champion Niels Vandeputte—that the Visma | Lease a Bike star will be there.

Last year, there was already a possibility that he would compete, but at that time he opted for the ADAC Cyclassics in Hamburg. Now nothing stands in his way, and he has been given the green light for the gravel challenge. Van Aert will immediately be the top favorite. This year, following his victory at Paris-Roubaix, he won the Marly Grav race in Valkenburg, beating world champion Florian Vermeersch, among others.

Winning the national jersey won’t happen on its own, of course, so the Belgian is making the necessary preparations. His last week of training was focused primarily on the gravel championship, as can be seen on Strava. Grobbendonk, the site of the Belgian Gravel Championship, is just around the corner from Herentals, where Van Aert lives. That gave him plenty of opportunity to scout the course.

His final training session on Wednesday was a 155-kilometer ride with his childhood friend Daan Soete, who will also be competing in the Belgian Gravel Championship. It took them just over four hours to cover that distance.