The changed mindset of Wout van Aert: "I now know that I don't have to do it for anyone else"

On Wednesday, Wout van Aert touched down on Flemish soil after some time at the Teide. The Belgian is set to restart his classics campaign at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, a campaign he put on hold after Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne for a high-altitude training stage in Tenerife. This new approach aims to bring success in one of the two upcoming Monuments: the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix.

Van Aert went to altitude with teammates Tiesj Benoot, Jan Tratnik and Per Strand Hagenes. "I've worked extremely hard because I believe I can win those big one-day cobblestone races. It's a huge goal to add those races to my list of honors. Over the past few years, I've come close more than once."

The main question after not seeing him in action for three weeks is, of course: how is he? "I think I'm quite good at the moment. Everything went super well in training, so that gives me a lot of confidence in that area. On the other hand, it's always a bit of a wait-and-see approach when you try something new, but in the past, I've learned that I usually respond well to high-altitude training. That's why we took the risk and went for it."

Besides hard work, the environment of Teide is mainly not very distracting. "As a cyclist, you are also a professional at getting bored, whether that's on Teide or somewhere in a hotel in Ghent. You have to be able to lie in bed for an afternoon, so it's not like we just grab the car here and head out. And you don't look at that volcano anymore after a few days either. This way, you can do your training sessions as well as possible. We also quickly binged the Amazon Prime documentary of our team, and both myself and Tiesj have become fans of Masterchef," the Belgian explains.

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Van Aert - who is very eager - has meticulously prepared everything for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix

All in all, how things will pan out in the E3 Saxo Classic, his first race on Friday, is still a bit of a mystery. "The last week went very well, but you only feel the true effect of the altitude once you're back. I was able to prepare in a very calm manner, with beautiful weather. That allowed us to complete the entire training schedule, so all in all, it was very pleasant for me to prepare myself in peace, far away from everything," he confidently states.

"The E3 Saxo Classic is a beautiful race to start with. Aside from the Tour of Flanders, it's the toughest race we have, with a finale that always starts from afar. That's why it's always a good test heading into the Tour of Flanders." On Sunday, Gent-Wevelgem is on the schedule, but Van Aert will skip it in favor of Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday. "There's definitely a rationale behind that. I take on the E3 Saxo Classic right after the camp, but afterwards, it's important to be able to take a few days off. This way, we create the right effect from the camp and can go to the Tour of Flanders rested, with Dwars door Vlaanderen more conveniently timed to give me that race stimulus. If I were to do E3 Saxo and Gent-Wevelgem now, we would have had to organize the training camp differently."

Van Aert is very excited to be racing again. "The past year has taught me a lot. I faced minor setbacks, which made the last season slightly less successful, and I narrowly missed out a few times. Now, I don't want to leave anything to chance and am happy with where I stand, after a winter without setbacks and some good first races. I feel less pressure now. 2023 was the first year for me that was less successful than the season before, so I have learned that I don't have to do it for anyone but myself. That gives me a much calmer feeling heading into those important races. As a team, we really start with a plan and the belief that we can win, which we all commit to, and we aim to take control of the race," concludes the Belgian.