Training maniac Van Aert strikes again: "Taking risks on the bike path in Playa de Palma. Awesome"

Exploring Mallorca in one day. Most tourists fail, but Wout van Aert on a bike almost does. The Belgian is busy preparing for the new road season. The Belgian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike is currently training in Mallorca, where he is testing himself. On Tuesday, he completed an impressive training day, with both a running session and a long bike ride!

Next week marks the moment we have been waiting for: Van Aert will start his first road race of the season during the Spanish one-day race with gravel sections, Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior. After the cyclo-cross World Championships, the Belgian will make his first competitive kilometers on the road there. Not much later, the first big goals await, so there will be a lot of training under the Spanish sun.

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After a quick "morning run," the real work began

Tuesday's day started early for Van Aert. A little after seven in the morning, he put on his running shoes for a refreshing lap through Sineu, which is centrally located in Mallorca. He completed a 6.4-kilometer lap in under thirty minutes, representing a brisk pace of 4:26 per kilometer. For an average runner, that's a nice pace, but for the Belgian, probably nothing more than a leisurely morning warm-up.

The actual working day began only after a quick morning run. And what a day it became. After the run, Van Aert jumped on his bike for a monster ride of at least 239 kilometers. During the seven-hour ride, he faced the treacherous roads of Mallorca and the necessary meters of elevation. He climbed over 2,700 meters in total, and with an average speed of 33.5 km/h, he also kept a solid pace.

Van Aert is getting ready to reach his goals

The necessary PRs were therefore achieved. The Strava file is full of gold medals. For example, on the climb segments like the Coll de Orient + Coll de Honor, as well as the Coll des Grau, As usual, Van Aert shared his efforts on Strava, where he referred to his ride with a wink. "Taking risks on the Playa de Palma bike path. Awesome."

So next week, Van Aert opens his season with the Clásica Jaén. After the hilly one-day race with gravel sections, the 30-year-old Belgian heads to the Volta ao Algarve. After these two warm-up races, it's time for the real thing. Van Aert rides the opening weekend but then focuses back on training for a while. The E3 Saxo Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen are final preparations for his ultimate goal: finally triumph in a (cobbled) Monument. This year's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix should be the icing on the cake. It shows he is thoroughly preparing for this achievement.  

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