Wout van Aert is out of the Tour de France due to the effects of an elbow injury which resulted in an infection, his team announced on Wednesday morning.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was expected to be a key support rider to Jonas Vingegaard's attempt to win the yellow jersey back, but will now miss the French Grand Tour for the first time since 2018.

Van Aert injured his elbow in a training crash the week before the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with an infection developing which meant a trip to hospital was required. The team and Van Aert have decided that full recovery is the priority over attempting to be on the start line of the Tour in just over two weeks' time.

The Belgian appeared to be struggling at Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last week, leaving the race on stage six, but not before he won stage five, allaying some fears about fitness. However, there were reports this week that he had missed the start of Visma's pre-Tour training camp, and the problem appears big enough to force him out of the team's key target for the season.

"This is of course a big disappointment. The Tour de France is one of my main goals every year," Van Aert said in a statement on the squad's website.

"Unfortunately, a crash during training has put a spanner in the works, and the injury to my elbow has worsened and has still not healed sufficiently. Together with the team, we have concluded that starting the Tour in top form is not feasible at this point. My full focus is now on my recovery so I can return to my best level later this season."

Van Aert hasn't missed a Tour since joining Visma-Lease a Bike in 2019, winning 10 stages in that time, and the green jersey in 2022 as well. The 31-year-old was also a key part of Vingegaard's overall triumphs in 2022 and 2023, so his absence is a huge blow for his team.

"Wout is one of the most important riders in our team and we would obviously have loved to have him at the start of the Tour," sports director Marc Reef added. "In recent days we have explored all options, but ultimately his health comes first. With the recovery process required, it is not possible for him to reach top form in time for the Tour de France. It is unfortunate that he will not be there, but we are convinced this is the right decision for his recovery and the rest of his season."

It is not the first time that misfortune has struck Van Aert, who fractured his ankle in a cyclo-cross crash at the beginning of the year, before fighting back to form to win Paris-Roubaix in memorable circumstances.

In 2022, he tested positive for Covid days before Flanders, depriving him of an opportunity at Belgium's biggest race; Mathieu van der Poel went on to win. A year later, Van Aert finished third at Roubaix after puncturing on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Van der Poel won. In 2024, Van Aert looked in great form, before crashing at Dwars door Vlaanderen and ending his tilt at the Classics early. Last year, he raced them all, but was coming back from the serious knee injury he suffered at the Vuelta a España the previous summer.

154 riders started last week’s renamed Critérium du Dauphiné, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, each of them desperate to fine-tune their form ahead of the Tour de France, which is now weeks away. Just 91 riders finished, with 40% dropping out mid-race, or failing to finish the final stage. Last year, 128 riders finished. This year’s finish rate of the key Tour de France warm-up race is the lowest since 2005.

Not all the riders who left the race did so because of serious illness and injury. The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes finished with three brutal back-to-back-to-back mountain stages, and perhaps the parcours just didn’t fit in with a rider’s training plan. There were precautionary abandons, too, the odd slightly sore throat perhaps making a rider think twice about signing on in the morning. The Tour de France is the biggest goal, after all.

However, there were high-profile incidents, and riders involved in crashes throughout the week, with some notable riders now sweating over their fitness or health ahead of the Tour. Among those are Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), a stage winner last week, who reportedly has had a setback on his recovery from an elbow injury sustained in a training crash pre-race. Josh Tarling (Netcompany-Ineos) crashed on stage six and broke his collarbone, requiring surgery; his teammate Oscar Onley crashed into a ravine the same day, and was able to finish, but with a dislocated shoulder. Teenage sensation Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) crashed on stage seven and was forced to abandon the next day.

The majority of these riders should be on the start line of La Grande Boucle in Barcelona next month, on Saturday 4 July, having recovered. But it’s impossible to say whether they will be in the same place physically had they not suffered these crashes. Other incidents may well occur at the five-stage Tour de Suisse, which begins tomorrow, the other final proving ground for those wanting to challenge at the Tour de France. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the biggest name of all, will no doubt be hoping to get through the week unscathed.

The depleted finisher numbers raise the question of whether racing ahead of the season’s key goal is worth it for riders. The consensus appears to be shifting a little, with the highest profile players embarking on fewer race days before the biggest targets. This is undoubtedly a shame for fans, and is also a repudiation of what was believed to be true. Riders are taking time off from their day job – racing – to train for other races. Altitude camps are thought of as just as important as a preparation event.

Remco Evenepoel won’t have raced for 68 days by the time the Tour de France comes around, with the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider not pinning numbers on again after Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Clearly, his team think that this is a better preparation for the Tour than taking part in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or Suisse, and the Belgian has done enough racing in the past to know how everything works, but one could still imagine some rustiness in the bunch come July.

Illness and injury don’t just come at races – Van Aert was bashed up in a training crash, while Tom Pidcock won’t start the Tour de Suisse due to a virus picked up away from racing, road racing anyway. To suppose that you’re better protected outside of the bunch might be a little true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, or prepare you for the intensity of the Tour de France entirely.

Crashes and misfortune are part of cycling, and while I hope that the start list for the Tour de France is as unaffected by that as possible, I also hope that teams aren’t even more minded in the future to hold their big names back. Let them race.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Wout van Aert will not start stage six of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage race, with the team citing ongoing discomfort from a pre-race training crash.

His decision not to start stage six comes hard on the heels of victory in stage five of the race in a sprint finish – a result somewhat at odds with his performance as a whole over the week, which has seen him off the pace and clearly suffering with the after-effects of the crash.

A team statement released by his Visma-Lease a Bike team on Friday morning said: "Wout Van Aert will not appear at the start of stage 6 of Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes today. He is still experiencing significant discomfort in his elbow related to the crash he sustained last week. Wout will travel back to Belgium for further medical examinations. Join us in wishing Wout a smooth recovery."

Despite his win at Villars-les-Dombes yesterday, which saw Van Aert pull a little-used trick from his extensive repertoire to win a bunch sprint, the Belgian has looked off the pace at times. Comments from his team suggested that too much celebrating following his Paris-Roubaix win in April might have had something to do with it, but it no longer looks as simple as that.

He showed up at Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes sporting gauze bandages, but told reporters at the time that his training crash, which saw him come off his time trial bike, had caused "very limited" damage.

After his win, he said: "I think it was a difficult start. It was even difficult today, mentally... I’m happy with this. I have to keep working now."

Van Aert was dropped and lost 24 minutes on a relatively innocuous first stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, with Visma head of performance Mathieu Heijboer telling Nieuwsblad: "He has to come from further back than usual," he added. "That isn't even about data. It just takes a little longer to get going again.”

That was followed by a disappointing performance in Tuesday's team time trial, which saw him dropped after just eight minutes. Afterwards he admitted that he had hoped to be in better condition so close to July.

"I find it difficult to answer that right now," he conceded, when asked whether he would be fully fit for the Tour de France. "Today was a disappointing day for me; we will see how things develop. I don't intend to give up."

His stage five win and the apparent lingering effects of his training crash may give Van Aert and his team hope that this is not just a simple lack of condition. With his next race set to be the Tour itself, he has a shade over three weeks to rest, recover, and re-find the form he needs to support Jonas Vingegaard in his attempt to complete a Giro-Tour double.

As a former winner over Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France you might have expected Wout van Aert to have kicked off the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with something better than the rather inauspicious start he did make.

On stage one yesterday, a 146km mid-mountains outing from Viziers to Saint-Ismier, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider lost 24 minutes and finished way down in 127th place.

The reason for this – or at least part of it – it transpires, is connected with the Belgian's unforgettable victory at Paris-Roubaix in April, and all that came after it.

"After Roubaix, Wout took the time to recover and enjoy himself,” Visma-Lease a Bike head of performance Mathieu Heijboer told Belgian outlet Niewsblad. “A lot has come his way. Many celebrations, especially. When you have to get back into the rhythm of training and racing at some point, it simply takes a little more time.

"He has to come from further back than usual," he added. "That isn't even about data. It just takes a little longer to get going again.”

Van Aert himself, despite being active early on in the stage, conceded afterwards that he "had hoped for a better feeling", and that he'd suffered "a lot of pain in the legs".

In Van Aert's defence, Visma-Lease a Bike coach Maarten Wynants pointed out that the stage, which featured a cat-three, three cat-twos and a cat-one climb along its relatively short length, was always going to be for a GC rider more than for a puncheur like Van Aert, and referenced the work he did for GC man Matteo Jorgenson during the day.

“We knew beforehand that this stage would normally be for the general classification riders and would be beyond Wout’s capabilities,” Wynants told Nieuwsblad. “Anyone who thought he could compete for the win here was being very optimistic. Moreover, Wout was quite active at the start of the stage. He attacked a few times. As a result, he ran out of breath a bit on the first real climb. Afterwards, he sacrificed himself to put Matteo Jorgenson in position.”

Van Aert had already "picked up the rhythm following an altitude camp", Wynants added, pointing out that the Tour de France was still some way off.

"Wout has come down from his pink cloud,” he said. “But in the meantime, he has the harsh reality of an altitude training camp behind him and has already picked up that rhythm again. As far as I’m concerned, he is where he needs to be. Let’s not forget that the Tour is still a long way off. This race should allow him to take another step closer to that top form.”

The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – previously called the Critérium du Dauphiné – runs until Sunday (14 June) and only gets harder – it ends with three consecutive summit-finish days. However, with Wednesday and Thursday offering less climbing and a flat run-in towards the finish, Van Aert hasn't ruled out the chance of nabbing a stage.

“Those are the so-called easiest stages,” he said. “That’s probably why. Although ‘easy’ is relative here. Those remain tough stages too, but with a flat finish. There might be a chance there in the sprint or from a breakaway.”

Wout van Aert's intense preparation for the upcoming and newly-named Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes continued at the weekend with a monster 181km gravel ride with his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates.

Christened 'That was a proper immunity booster' by the Belgian Paris-Roubaix champion, the six-hour ride also involved Matteo Jorgensen, Eduardo Affiini and Bruno Armirail, and took place in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains.

Van Aert and members of the Dutch team have been based at the ski resort of Pradollano near Granada for nearly two weeks now. At 2,100m above sea-level it means this half of the team is enjoying some useful altitude time – the other half, or at least part of it, are supporting Jonas Vingegaard in the Giro d'Italia.

Perhaps not surprisingly given the location, Van Aert's ride also featured a serious amount of vertical height gain – 4,022 metres, according to Van Aert's Strava file. That's Queen stage territory and around 100 metres more than he will face on stage six, the biggest climbing day at the Tour Auverge-Rhône Alpes – formerly called the Critérium du Dauphiné. With that amount of climbing and distance, and the rough roads involved, the 29kph (18mph) average speed is impressive.

According to the latest provisional start list Armirail will be joining Van Aert for the race in south-east France, although as part of Visma-Lease a Bike's proposed Tour de France squad, both Affini and Jorgenson are likely to be at Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes too, given its status as a key Tour warm-up event.

There are some lengthy stages on the race though, including a mountainous day from Saint Martin le Vinoux to le Puy en Velay on stage two, which will see the riders chalk up 237km – something Van Aert and co may have had in mind when he put in a six-hour stint.

Somewhat by the by – but anyone who enjoys the (admittedly slightly niche) pastime of 'tiling' by bike will enjoy this – the previous day Van Aert polished off a 123km ride with the title 'A squadrat a day, keeps the doctor away'. Again in the Sierra Nevada and again super-hilly at 3,633km, the title hints at his tile-collecting side hustle. And indeed, a quick check of the Squadrats website – one of the numerous tiling sites, with Veloviewer being another biggie – reveals Van Aert has ridden through a whopping 45,210 mile-square map tiles, putting him 85th on the world leaderboard.

Mind you, he has healthy competition: Thomas De Gendt is 10th with 68,810, Toms Skujiňs (Lidl-Trek) is 18th with 59,558, and team-mate Sepp Kuss is 42nd with 51,703 tiles.

The Marly Grav gravel race enjoyed the most celebrated victors in its short history, with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) winning the men's and women's races respectively.

He said he was simply there to have fun, but Van Aert's win was taken in impressive style – on the end of a 20km solo escapade. For Wiebes, who defended the title she took here last year and was wearing her world champion's jersey, her victory was won in a sprint from a small group.

Both the elite men and women contested the race over a hilly 150km course based on Valkenburg in the Netherlands, perhaps better known for hosting the denouement of the Amstel Gold WorldTour Classic.

Van Aert and Wiebes were not the only big names in their respective races and these were by no means soft victories. Van Aert's solo escape, for example, saw him ditch fellow escapees that included world champion Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) while Wiebes was facing Unbound 2023 winner Caroline Schiff (Canyon XC Racing) and, among the small group she won from, recent Traka and Sea Otter Classic podium finisher Nele Laing (Canyon X DT Swiss All Terrain).

Van Aert was there "without any specific expectations and mainly to enjoy himself" his team said afterwards. However, it became clear that the new Paris-Roubaix champion had good legs and after finding himself a select front group some way past the halfway mark, he opted to try a solo move.

Vermeersch attempted in vain to follow and Van Aert crossed the line with a 44-second advantage.

"It was a really tough race, but at the same time I enjoyed it," he said afterwards. "It was fun racing here. It’s a completely different kind of race to what I’m used to. It’s great to be able to compete in such a fair race and put my off-road skills to good use. I’ll definitely be taking part more often."

In a similar fashion, the women's race saw a select group of seven riders – later becoming five – form as the race went on. Beyond just her supreme sprinting ability, Wiebes was strong enough to cover numerous attacks and the race looked to be hers to lose. She won the eventual sprint with some ease, bettering second-placed Larissa Hartog (Canyon X DT Swiss All Terrain) by a clear bike length.

She said afterwards: “We had a strong group at the front and had to make our way through the field past riders from the other categories.

"It’s fantastic to win in the rainbow jersey in my own backyard. It was a tough race, but I really enjoyed the route and the atmosphere along the way,”

The UCI Gravel World Series continues this weekend with a double-header: Seven in Australia and The Gralloch in Scotland, both held on Saturday.

If, when Wout van Aert crossed the line first at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, your first thought was “I’d love a jigsaw puzzle of that”, then your wish, it seems, is Visma-Lease a Bike’s command.

The squad has this week launched a range of merchandise commemorating the Belgian’s first cobbled Monument win. Among the more unconventional items are a 500-piece jigsaw of Van Aert celebrating ahead of a defeated Tadej Pogačar, and a beach towel the team describes as “thin [...] so you can bring it easily everywhere you go”.

Both items are priced at £26.36 (€30 / $35) each, and are available to pre-order now, with stock expected to arrive with the team around 30 April.

The range also includes Nike t-shirts bearing the phrase ‘Never Stop Believing’, a hoodie, a poster, a ceramic tile and a fleece-lined blanket.

“That memorable moment when Wout raised his finger in the air at the Roubaix velodrome is one to cherish forever,” write Visma-Lease a Bike on their web store, adding that the commemorative products are only available for a limited time.

Writing about the jigsaw in particular, the team says: “The puzzle is the perfect way to relive this historic victory piece by piece. Whether you are an avid puzzler and cycling fan or simply looking for a special memory of this legendary and historic win, this is for you.”

Van Aert’s victory at Paris-Roubaix came on his seventh time of trying, having previously finished second, third and fourth at the race.

As he crossed the line, the Belgian gestured to the sky in tribute to Michael Goolaerts, his former team-mate at Vérandas Willems-Crelan, who died of a heart attack during the 2018 edition of Paris-Roubaix.

“Ever since then [...] it was my goal to win this race, and to be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael. He’s a lot on my mind but especially in this period,” Van Aert said of his celebration in his post-race press conference.

“Winning this race means basically everything to me. We make so many sacrifices to get to this level, to always fight back, and every year our target is this race and [the Tour of] Flanders. To finish it off in this way in a sprint with Tadej in his [rainbow] jersey, there’s no better way to do it. It’s a dream come true.”

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Van Aert Paris-Roubaix range is available to pre-order now.

It grew from a rumble, a low chorus of a group in suspense. Wout van Aert was on Pogačar’s wheel in the Roubaix velodrome and people weren’t daring to hope - yet. Another few turns of the pedals and Van Aert was pushing ahead of Pogačar. The crowd roared.

But this chorus of joy wasn't playing out in Northern France, or in a small bar in Flanders. I’d just walked into Herne Hill Velodrome’s club room in South London with three precious minutes of race time left, and the atmosphere was electric.

Riders in multicoloured jerseys and cycling caps crossed with team names cluttered the room, all eyes trained on the small TV in front of them. The coffee machine whirred somewhere just behind the action, as time trial taster sessions rolled around the velodrome outside. Emily Stainer was, for the first time all afternoon, released from coffee-making duty as the crowd locked into the most exciting racing of the year so far.

"Everyone was on [van Aert's] side - it was super, super intense in the room,” Stainer recalled, proof of the Belgian's enduring popularity. “And then he suddenly went for it.”

“It was all drama, wasn't it?” CJ said, sat just across the room from where Stainer stood watching. “Van der Poel trying to drag himself back after his two punctures on the Arenberg. There were punctures and mechanicals everywhere, people falling off here, there and everywhere.”

CJ was recovering from a cobble ride they had - along with the rest of the captivated room - finished earlier that day. The Cobblemonster ride had started out on Sunday morning from UpCYCLE in Brixton, and headed north-west, ‘blasting across some early secteurs of the smoke’s Victorian pave before tucking into the east end and its myriad lanes of snaking cobbled nadgery,’ before ending back in Herne Hill for a victory lap of the velodrome in true Roubaix-style.' All according to the website.

“The cobbles, by the way, are excellent in London,” CJ said. To demonstrate their point, they compared them to the giant cobbles in Belgium: “The first set of cobbles that I saw, I burst out laughing. They are so big that you just bounce all over the place. It's uncontrollable. You have to go as fast as you can, so that you don't hit every single cobble. So when the pro riders are doing it, they hit like one cobble in 20, because they're so fast. But because I'm not very fast, I’m bouncing all over the place.” Luckily for CJ and the Cobblemonster riders, “the London cobbles are much more manageable. They're fairly small.”

The best cobbles CJ has ridden in the capital so far criss-cross the city. There’s a stretch in Farringdon and a load around the Docklands, as well as “a really long section down Wapping High Street.” The Cobblemonster tries its best to capture as many of the city’s cobbles as possible, with each edition offering a fresh treasure trove of hidden routes.

The ride finished at Herne Hill Velodrome, in time to catch the men’s Paris-Roubaix race - but not before the group did their own velodrome-finish. Unbeknownst to CJ, their final straight was about to imitate Van Aert’s own victory-lap, as their friend hung to their wheel only to overtake with metres left to sprint.

What is it about Paris-Roubaix that makes it such a special race, I asked Stainer, herself new to the world of professional racing. “Me and my friend were watching the Tour of Flanders the other week, and we were just like, well, this is going to be really boring, because it was basically decided who's going to win with an hour to go,” she said. “It felt like we couldn’t get excited about it.” Roubaix, on the other hand has a roster of underdog-victors, from Mathew Hayman to Johan Vansummeren.

Herne Hill Velodrome is a particularly special place to watch Paris-Roubaix. It is, after all, the home of VC Londres, Fred Wright’s first club. Though he finished 132nd this year, hopes had been high after finishing 9th last year. The 454 metre velodrome was where he first competed, in the track league alongside his dad as a kid, and where fans and family still come out to cheer him on, whether he’s riding on the track outside or beamed into the telly.

Maybe it was the collective post-ride high that gave the room such a buzz on Sunday, maybe it was the objective thrill of Paris-Roubaix, its unique capacity to produce race-long drama, maybe it was the fact that everyone was experiencing the race together - everyone in that room locked into the same drama. It was, if nothing more, a reminder of the importance of third spaces, where people can come together to celebrate and to share.

The only improvement to the day would have been more women in the crowd, a feeling CJ shared too, stressing the accessibility of an event like the Cobblemonster - no matter how alarming its name. "You always find that there's more blokes going to these things," they said. "[Other riders] might look at the distance and think, Oh, that's a long way. But it's such a chilled, relaxed ride."

But back in Herne Hill, Van Aert had won and I'd entered the pavilion just in time to witness the wall of sound that seemed to shift him across the line. Then as quick as the silence turned into screaming, chairs were scraped away, the telly switched off (before the women’s race could be streamed) and all trace of the day's event cleared to make way for the children’s birthday party about to head through the double doors.

“Since that day, I wanted to win here and point upwards,” Wout van Aert said, after crossing the finish line in the velodrome as victor in the 2026 Paris-Roubaix. “This one is for him, for his family, and for everyone who was there.”

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was talking about his late teammate, Michael Goolaerts, who tragically passed away after suffering a heart attack during the second cobbled sector of the 2018 Paris-Roubaix race, aged just 23. That year was also the first time Van Aert tackled the 'Hell of the North', and both men were racing for Vérandas Willems-Crelan. The loss of his teammate and friend had a huge impact on the young Belgian, and he often signs off his social media posts with “#All4Goolie”.

Van Aert vowed to win Paris-Roubaix for Goolaerts, and this year, during his eighth time of contesting the Monument, he succeeded, defeating Tadej Pogačar during a dramatic sprint finish in the famous velodrome, which had spectators roaring at screens all around the world. It was a moment drenched in emotion, and as well as dedicating the victory to his fallen teammate, Van Aert said he would be sending the winner’s bouquet to his friend’s family. Today it was confirmed that the podium flowers arrived, along with an urn shaped like a cobblestone.

The Belgian news outlet Sporza spoke to Goolaerts’ parents after Van Aert’s victory. "It is overwhelming,” said his father, Staf. “Since Michael's death I don't normally watch racing anymore… it hurts too much. Especially because these were his kind of races. I try to shut it out a bit. So today I wasn't following it either.

"But I was on my way back from visiting my mother and heard on the radio that Wout had a chance of winning. I pulled into our driveway and just stayed there, listening… I also heard Wout's first interview there. The tears were rolling down my cheeks."

"I went inside and my wife was watching everything on television – unlike me, she can still watch the races. Then we heard Wout's interview again in Dutch. Absolutely beautiful."

After the 2018 race, the cobbled sector at Briastre, where Goolaerts fell from his bike after suffering a cardiac arrest, was renamed ‘Secteur Pavé Michael Goolaerts’ in honour of the much-missed Belgian rider.

Van Aert described getting goosebumps when riding this sector, and after the race he said: “I like to believe he gave me a bit of extra power today. It’s a good thing, and a beautiful thing that I can dedicate this victory to his family."

“We’re not superstitious, but it felt like Michael was riding along with him," said Goolaerts' mother, Marianne. "He has never really let him go," she explained. "Michael is still in his heart.”

“He kept his word… For us, this feels like a victory for our Michael”

'The Hell of the North leads to paradise'. That is the title that new Paris-Roubaix champion Wout van Aert gave to the Strava activity he posted up for the race, although he wrote it in French: 'L'Enfer du Nord mène au paradis'.

Next to it the Belgian added a pair of emojis – a finger pointing skyward, and a champion's cup. The former is a replication of the Visma-Lease a Bike rider's winning gesture, in which he remembered his Verandas Willems team-mate Michael Goolaerts, who passed away during the 2018 edition.

Unsurprisingly, Van Aert's Strava entry is paired with that of runner-up Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), whose attacks the Belgian spent much of the sharp end of the race fending off. In Pogačar's case, his weary lack of jubilation is written all over the rather more prosaic entry title – 'Cycling'.

'Tadej Pogačar Pogi rode with Wout van Aert', Strava tells us, as if the pair had popped out for a bit of lunch time fresh air, rather than made history in one of the world's most revered bike races.

Strava credits Van Aert with numerous KoMs on the way to victory, including the rarely-used Briastre sector, the Wandignies sector (covered at 52kph, no less), and the mammoth Sector 17 [Hornaing] to Roubaix – 80km covered in 1hr 47min.

There was also a string of PRs, reflecting an incredible record average speed for the race of 48.9kph (30.4mph), that saw the 258km polished off in a scant 5hr 16min.

Pogačar also took a few KoMs to add to his extensive set, including the Beuvry-la-foret to Orchies sector – a crown he shares with Van Aert's team-mate Christophe Laporte, Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM) and yesterday's third place, Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step).

Van Aert's ride has gained Strava kudos from 119,504 people, Pogačar's 75,041. However, neither man has furnished us with what would have been the icing on the Strava cake – their power figures. In a race like yesterday's when they were pushing so hard for so long, the wattages would no doubt have been double-take impressive.

Sadly for fans, such things are the stuff of trade secrets, although Pogačar has posted his on occasion, as well as telling an interviewer that his zone two rates at 320-340 watts.

For a day or three at least, neither rider is likely to be pushing too hard on the pedals as they recover, Pogačar in readiness for next Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Van Aert for what's currently his next scheduled race, the newly named Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes (formerly Critérium du Dauphiné) in June.

There were times when it felt like Wout van Aert would never win another Monument, especially not Paris-Roubaix, the one-day race which suits him the most.

Even as he approached the Roubaix Velodrome on Sunday, at the end of his seventh 'Hell of the North', together with Tadej Pogačar, who he would surely beat in a sprint, the doubts were still there; it would be very Van Aert to be presented this golden opportunity, only to be denied.

Luck never seemed on the Belgian's side. It was part of what made him charming. Just at Roubaix, there was second in 2022, winning the sprint after Dylan van Baarle escaped to victory, after he recovered from Covid; the puncture which took him out of contention in 2023, which stopped him from racing with Mathieu van der Poel to the end; in 2024 it was the turn of a crash at Dwaars door Vlaanderen to take him out of contention; last year he was on the comeback from another serious crash, this time at the Vuelta a España.

On Sunday, for once, luck was just about with him. There was the almost compulsory puncture, but it did not take him out of the race, while his rivals, especially Van der Poel, were beset by issues. Pogačar changed his bike twice, and was forced to chase on before the Arenberg, while Van der Poel's whole race went up in smoke in the trench, after two punctures. Van Aert was able to take the lead into the crucial sectors, including the Trouée d'Arenberg, and dictate the race. He won in the end, out-sprinting Pogačar in the velodrome to win.

"I’ve been pretty unlucky sometimes in this race, so it will be a nice story to say that I was feeling so much better in this edition, but the truth is other years I felt really good but circumstances were not on my side," he explained in his winner's press conference.

"In this race I had my own story, and my own bad luck at points, but I could fight back. All the experience from the other editions gave me the knowledge to pull it off today."

The crowd were also with the Belgian; rarely can there have ever been a non-French winner who received as much acclaim as Van Aert. Coming into the velodrome, it was clear who the fans wanted to win, despite the possibility of history being made.

No-one would ever choose to go into the final 500m of a race against the rider many consider to be the best ever, just one win away from completing a historic set of Monuments, but Pogačar was there to be beaten, and Van Aert took the opportunity with both hands.

"I’m obviously super proud," he said. "Winning this race means basically everything to me. We make so many sacrifices to get to this level, to always fight back, and every year our target is this race and Flanders. To finish it off in this way in a sprint with Tadej in his jersey, there’s no better way to do it. It’s a dream come true."

Van Aert and Pogačar were alone from around sector 12, around 50km to go, and while it was not a done deal, the former sensed this was his moment.

"From when I was on the road with Tadej I knew I had a fair chance," he explained. "I also knew it was a long way, a lot could happen. I truly believed after Carrefour de l’Arbre that I had the same chances as him when it comes to a sprint after a race like this, anything can happen. From then I really believed. When we were two I always really believed that I had a chance."

With around 40km to go of Paris-Roubaix, Pogačar launched his final all-or-nothing move, knowing that he could not take Van Aert to the finish with him. From then on, there would be fewer pulls by the Belgian, who sensed the way to win this race was from behind.

"That was the moment I would stick on his wheel on the cobbles in order to not get attacked from behind again," Van Aert explained. "He did a very good attack after the first corner of Mons-en-Pévèle. It was a good moment of realisation that this was the strongest guy in the whole peloton. That was a very good attack that I could just answer, but from then on I knew my main goal was to stick on his wheel."

Paris-Roubaix is special to Van Aert for reasons beyond its general stature as a big race, one that suits him. In 2018, on his first appearance, Van Aert finished 13th riding for Vérandas Willems-Crelan. Tragically, that same day, his teammate Michael Goolaerts died from a heart attack during the race, on the Briastre sector of cobbles, a sector which returned to the race route this year.

"It was immediately a sad day, losing a teammate in the race, it’s something brutal," Van Aert remembered. "Ever since then, personally, I did a good race, I felt it was something that really suited me. It was my goal to win this race, and to be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael. He’s a lot on my mind but especially in this period.

"This was the first edition we did [since] where we passed his sector, where he died. When we did the recon I had goosebumps. I like to believe he gave me a bit of extra power today. It’s a good thing, and a beautiful thing that I can dedicate this victory to his family."

This win was for the Belgian, but also for Goolaerts and his family, with a dedication in the celebration. It was a promise to himself finally realised.

It seemed apposite, that in this chaotic, engrossing, monumental edition of Paris-Roubaix, it was finally Van Aert's victory. A meme for something special, beautiful, is to 'hang it in the Louvre'. It would take more than even that vast museum's floor space to tell the tale of Van Aert's trials and tribulations, and then triumph at last, but it is a compelling story. Luck finally turned, fortune's wheel spun right for the Belgian, and he finally has his cobblestone. The time was right. Everybody cheered.

Visma-Lease a Bike have angrily lashed out at the UCI, after the governing body suddenly banned the use of a game-changing gadget produced by GRAVAA and developed in conjunction with the Dutch team, which allowed riders to adjust the pressure in their tyres on the move.

The system provides a significant – potentially title-deciding – marginal gain during races with cobble sections… like the Paris-Roubaix, happening this Sunday. Visma's head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer, was incandescent about the communication of the ban, as much as the “vague story” used to justify it, let alone the impact it will have on his top riders’ performance in this weekend’s cobbled Monument.

“Does this reduce Wout van Aert's chances? Yes!” Heijboer fumed during a Flemish podcast, In de Waaier, with his comments later reported in the newspaper Nieuwsblad. “This is no coincidence,” he said. “We received no announcement that this was coming; there was simply that letter. In fact, we even rode the GP Denain with it.”

“The surprise is going to be that we won’t be applying an innovation [in this year’s Paris-Roubaix],” Heijboer said during the podcast. “As you know, we have worked with the GRAVAA system for the past two years,” he continued. “We further developed it and tested it extensively during the winter. However, two weeks ago we received a letter stating that it is banned by the UCI. Then it stops all at once.”

The ingenious system makes it possible for riders to soften their tyres just before contending with cobbled sections, and then repressurise them afterwards for maximum performance. However, the price of the tech (around €4,000 for a complete system) seemed to make it commercially unviable and GRAVAA, the company behind it, was declared bankrupt earlier this year, leading the UCI to ban it for the rest of the season.

Heijboer, however, questions this, arguing that the system is commercially available. “You can order one if you want,” he said. “Moreover, there is no rule stating that a tape must be available two weeks or two months in advance. The moment of recording is the competition, and if a tape is commercially available at that time, then you comply with the rules.”

Tour de France Femmes winner and Visma-Lease a Bike rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took victory in last year's Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and the Frenchwoman later said the innovative GRAVAA gadget “Made a huge difference and it is fantastic to have this system ahead of the competition.” Last year Wout van Aert finished fourth in the Hell of the North, but he won the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris in spectacular fashion, attacking solo on the wet cobbles during on the final climb of Montmartre to emerge victorious on the Champs-Élysées.

The timing of the ban, almost on the eve of this year's Paris-Roubaix, has really drawn Heijboer’s ire. “I can’t read the minds of the UCI, but it is just a little too coincidental. Especially since the GP Denain is the biggest cobblestone race after Roubaix. It is also our final competitive test, and at that time there was nothing going on. But now, suddenly, right before Roubaix... That is no coincidence. Is there nothing we can do about it? Yes, the penalty ranges from a warning to disqualification. You’re not going to take that risk.

“Moreover, it does take quite a bit of preparation time. Over the past two weeks, our mechanics have been preparing hundreds of sets of wheels. So you can’t postpone that until the Saturday before Roubaix. Quite soon after that letter, we decided to cut our losses; we are not going to ride with them. We are going to challenge this, but for now, it is too late.

“Does this reduce Wout van Aert's chances? Yes. We have a lot of faith in the system and have tested it extensively. It is a real shame that it is now suddenly no longer allowed for very unclear reasons...”

Wout van Aert does win bike races, I promise. Just last year, the Belgian won stages at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, and has raised his arms in victory 51 times in his career.

However, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider has also finished second 49 times, and third 36 times. He has finished second twice at Dwars door Vlaanderen, first last year in bizarre circumstances, and now this season, when he had his heart broken just 150 metres from the finish line. There doesn't seem to be another rider like Van Aert when it comes to tragedy, and that's part of what makes him such a likeable rider. He is also incredibly unlucky.

On Wednesday, Van Aert attacked around 40km from the finish on the Eikenberg, and was then alone in the final 10km, before being passed just 150m from the line by eventual winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). It was another second place.

"It would have been nicer if the finish was 150m earlier, but I tried everything I had and I was really dying in the end, so if somebody passed me, that's racing," he said post-race on television.

"I got to the front after the Eikenberg, and I had good companions there with Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) and [Niklas] Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets)," he explained of his day. "We cooperated well. I could feel the pace was slowly decreasing in the end so I had to try and attack and search for that victory. Until that very last moment I thought it would be just enough to make it, I almosty never looked back because I tried to focus on my own effort. After the last corner, suddenly, Ganna was there.

"I only knew it when he passed me because I tried not to look back and suddenly I saw a wheel next to me and I knew I would have nothing back.

"It was again a good race. A bit of a strange race in the middle part, the race got launched quite early. There was a lot of moments where we didn't really push on. There were a lot of guys coming back, so it took quite a while until we could make a proper selection. After the Eikenberg I did a really good final I believe."

For Van Aert, there is no time for despondency. He might have had his dream crushed by Ganna, but he also looked like the strongest man in the race, with his attack on the Eikenberg being unmatched. If he can carry this form into the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, then he could take the fight to Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar. His power is clear, even if he couldn't pull it off at Dwars.

That said, it is yet another disappointment for Van Aert, thanks Filippo Ganna. There will be no Wout Wednesday today.

It was heartbreak for Wout van Aert and glory for Filippo Ganna as the Italian swept by him in the final metres of Dwars door Vlaanderen. Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) had attacked with around 30km to go and, while he had company initially, had held off the chase behind almost singlehandedly until 50 metres to go.

Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) had made more than one concerted attempt to bridge what had been reduced to a 12-second gap in the final kilometres. But he only finally succeeded in the finishing straight with the chequered flag in sight.

Run off at an average of 48.48kph, it was the fastest ever edition of the race.

Amazingly, it was Ganna's first pro victory in a one-day race – all the rest have been in stage races and, his favoured discipline, time trials. As well as stealing Van Aert's thunder, the Italian's victory extended the Belgian duck in the race for another year. It has now been eight editions.

"Wout made an impressive effort - to catch him was not easy," Ganna said afterwards. "All day we were a bit unlucky. In the first part, after the first hill I broke my front wheel and had to change my bike for the first time. And then I broke my handlebar" – the latter requiring a second bike change.

"I was feeling good in Gent [In Flanders Fields] and I tried to help my team-mates, and today they did an amazing job for me and gave me massive support. In the end I tried to give back all their support with an amazing victory.

He did not allow himself to believe he could win until "maybe the final corner", he said, pointing out that the bunch had brought his efforts back previously.

"I think it's one of the most important, especially in 'the University' of cycling," he smiled, holding up the air quotes. "It's really nice for me."

Results: Dwars door Vlaanderen 2026

1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, 184.6km in 3:48:27
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
3. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling
5. Laurence Pithie (Nzl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
6. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
7. Christophe Laport (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
9. Vito Braet (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché
10. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, all at same time

Dwars door Vlaanderen
Wednesday 1 April
Distance: 185km (men's), 129km (women)
Finish: 3:05pm (men's), 4:30pm (women's) BST

The final rehearsal before the big show that is the Tour of Flanders takes place on Wednesday, Dwars door Vlaanderen, or 'Through Flanders', which is quite a nice name.

The men's and women's races are both WorldTour for the first time and are organised by Flanders Classics, the same people behind the Ronde, and In Flanders Fields, and most of the rest of the Belgian Classics.

It is the last chance for riders to tune their form before the big day on Sunday, but is also a big deal in its own right. That said, some riders, including Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, have elected to skip it in order to save their legs.

Previous winners of the men's race have included Van der Poel, Tom Boonen, and most recently Neilson Powless, while the women's race has been won by Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos, and last year, Elisa Longo Borghini.

Check out our guide on how to watch Dwaars door Vlaanderen if you're still figuring that out. Here are five things to look out for in the race.

Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser return

Not seen since Strade Bianche almost a month ago, Demi Vollering returns to action at Dwars, a race she won in 2023. The last time Vollering raced in Belgium, she won Omloop Nieuwsblad, so clearly has form for this time of thing. Her FDJ United-SUEZ team are the queens of one-day racing this year, so will be aiming to set her, or one of her teammates up for a win.

Also returning is another SD Worx-Protime alumnus, Marlen Reusser of Movistar, who last rode at the UAE Tour in February. She crashed out of that race, but is back and "ready to go" for this weekend.

Wout van Aert aims to bounce back

Last year, Dwars ended rather embarrassingly for Wout van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike. The team had three riders in the finale, joined by Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). Somehow, they managed not to win from that situation.

This season, Visma and Van Aert will be aiming for a different scenario. The Belgian is yet to win this year, despite looking good, and this is a big chance to make a statement before Flanders.

A sprinter's race?

Not since 2016 for men and 2022 for the women has Dwars finished in anything resembling a bunch sprint, but there are still a lot of fast finishers in the races, from Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Cat Ferguson (Movistar).

Obviously, it doesn't have to be a bunch sprint for a sprinter to win, as Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) proved at In Flanders Fields. It does, however, give teams a different card to play.

The missing big hitters

While there are many big names lining up on the start list, some are significantly absent. There are favourites for Flanders not racing Dwars, including Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime).

It means we can't predict too much ahead of Sunday, although a win is surely better than nothing. That said, it was at Dwars two years ago where Wout van Aert crashed out, ruining his Classics season; everyone will be hoping to avoid incident.

Full-strength teams

Despite the absentees, there are teams with a lot of strength in depth at Dwars. In the women's race, FDJ, SD Worx, UAE Team ADQ and Movistar all look close to full strength, with a plethora of options.

In the men's race, Visma-Lease a Bike look almost there, with the return of Matthew Brennan giving their team another angle, while Lidl-Trek are well rounded too, with Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan.

A WorldTour race

For the first time in its nine year history, Dwars is now a Women's WorldTour race, meaning mandatory participation for all the elite teams, live television coverage, and a better field. This is good to see for a race which always provides great action – and fans can finally watch it, too.

Tirreno-Adriatico
9-15 March
1,166km
Italy

A key preparation race for the Classics and Grand Tours, Tirreno-Adriatico is where riders look to test their form ahead of the major races, with the route often lending itself to a variety of rider types. A prestigious race in its own right, the ‘Race of the Two Seas’ is second only to the Giro d’Italia when it comes to Italian stage races, with both races being organised by RCS Sport.

Though winning this race is far from a guarantee of success later in the season, it is certainly the mark of a strong rider, as Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Simon Yates have all won the general classification here in recent editions. Last year, Juan Ayuso secured the coveted trident trophy and maglia azzurra, as he took the overall victory, but the Spaniard will not be in attendance to defend his title in 2026.

Here’s everything to look out for at this year’s race.

Classics specialists clash ahead of Milan-San Remo

Sandwiched amongst the Spring Classics, Tirreno-Adriatico is often used by many of the top riders as preparation ahead of the major one-day races. This year’s race is no exception, with Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Filippo Ganna and Julian Alaphilippe all in attendance as they prepare for the first Monument of the season, with Milan-San Remo less than two weeks away. We can certainly expect to see some of them mixing it up on stages 2 and 4, which should lend themselves to the more versatile riders in the bunch. Ganna won stage one's time trial.

Can Del Toro escape Pogačar’s shadow?

After playing second fiddle to Tadej Pogačar in UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s dominant performance at Strade Bianche on Saturday, Isaac del Toro will be relishing the opportunity of sole leadership at Tirreno-Adriatico this week, as he looks to add another stage race to his win tally after his overall victory at the UAE Tour in February. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Mexican rider fares without the shadow of the World Champion looming over him.

Jorgenson opts against Paris-Nice defence

With Paris-Nice occurring concurrently, Matteo Jorgenson has opted not to defend his overall title at the ‘Race to the Sun’ after winning the previous two editions, as he leads Visma-Lease a Bike at Tirreno-Adriatico in his first stage race of the season. Jonas Vingegaard’s presence at the French stage race may have influenced his decision, as similarly to Del Toro at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the American rider also has to look for opportunities where he can be the sole leader.

Will the GC contenders have it all their own way?

Without a major summit finish at this year’s edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, it could leave the race open to a wider range of riders to contest the general classification, as some puncheurs may look to challenge the GC specialists on the short uphill finishes. This race has often seen some less conventional GC podiums, with Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert both finishing second overall in recent editions.

Sprint showdown for the fast men

With the route of Paris-Nice largely absent of opportunities for the sprinters, many of the fast men have come to Tirreno-Adriatico in search of victories. Jasper Philipsen is one such sprinter, as he will look to make the most of having Mathieu van der Poel as his leadout man. The Alpecin-Premier Tech duo will have competition from Lidl-Trek and Jonathan Milan, who has won two stages and the points classification in each of the last two editions of this race.

Paul Magnier, Tobias Lund Andresen and Arnaud De Lie will also be looking to contest the sprints throughout the week, with all of them perhaps having an eye on stage 4, which should favour the more versatile sprinters. Meanwhile, Sam Welsford and Danny van Poppel will be looking to keep their powder dry for the final stage, which features a pan-flat circuit around San Benedetto del Tronto.

Focus on the sterrato

After Strade Bianche on Saturday, the riders will return to the white roads of Tuscany on stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, as they tackle the sterrato on the final climb to the finish at San Gimignano. The terrain will bring the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert into competition with Isaac del Toro for the stage victory, whilst the many of the other GC contenders will look to limit their losses on the 5km-long gravel section before the final uphill kick in the final kilometre.

With no major summit finish at this year’s race, these short punchy uphill finishes have the potential to be decisive in the overall outcome of the race, meaning that those hoping to contest the general classification will have to stay towards the front and go on the attack in an attempt to gain time on their rivals.

The route

How to watch

All stages of Tirreno-Adriatico will be live on TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland, accessible via a TV package or a Discovery+ subscription. Find out more in our how to watch Tirreno-Adriatico guide.

Last year’s podium

1. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
2. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious

Riders to watch

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) *****

With a full team behind him and a route that suits his punchy characteristics, Isaac del Toro is the clear favourite going into this year’s edition of Tirreno-Adriatico. The 22-year-old has already finished fourth overall at this race in his neo-pro season in 2024 and has gone from strength to strength since that point. After the time trial on the opening stage, his focus will predominantly be on the uphill finishes on stages 2, 5 and 6, where the young Mexican rider will inevitably look to gain time on the rest of the GC contenders.

Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) ****

Making his season debut at Tirreno-Adriatico is Primož Roglič, who will be looking to rediscover his stage racing form, following a difficult end to last season after he crashed at the Giro d’Italia, which ultimately forced him to abandon the race. Having won this race overall twice previously, it is clearly one that the Slovenian rider enjoys riding and the punchy uphill finishes should suit him well. He will be alongside Giulio Pellizzari and Jai Hindley as part of a strong and versatile Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad.

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) ***

A strong start to the season for Antonio Tiberi saw him finish fourth overall at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and runner-up behind Isaac del Toro on the general classification at the UAE Tour. The Italian rider will therefore be looking to continue his strong run of form on home soil at Tirreno-Adriatico, where he finished third overall last year. Though he would have probably preferred a more challenging summit finish on one of the stages, the route is far from unsuited to his characteristics.

Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) ***

Despite Filippo Ganna’s incredible ride to finish second overall at last year’s race, it is likely that we will see Thymen Arensman lead Ineos Grenadiers at Tirreno-Adriatico. He is another rider that would have probably preferred a long summit finish to really make a difference in the general classification, but his strong credentials against the clock means that the opening time trial will certainly favour him. The Dutchman also tends to fare well on the steeper climbs, so expect to see him up towards the front on the harsh gradients in the final kilometres of stages 5 and 6.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) ***

Having won the last two editions of Paris-Nice, it was perhaps a slight surprise to see Matteo Jorgenson’s name on the start list for Tirreno-Adriatico, as he rides his first stage race of the season after some strong performances in one-day races already this year. With Wout van Aert alongside him for Visma-Lease a Bike, he will certainly be well-supported throughout the week, but whether he will have the punch to challenge the likes of Del Toro on some of the uphill finishes is less of a certainty.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) ***

After his incredible season in 2025, where he finished ninth overall at the Tour de France, Ben Healy will definitely be a rider to watch out for in stage races this season. Few races will suit him as well as this year’s edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, as the absence of any major summit finishes will certainly be an advantage for the Irishman, with the punchy finales likely to suit his characteristics perfectly.

How many mirrors has Wout van Aert smashed in his life? How many black cats have crossed his path? Does the Belgian have a habit of walking under ladders or opening umbrellas indoors?

This would go some way to explaining why the Visma-Lease a Bike rider seems to acquire more bad luck than his fellow stars of cycling, but it feels unlikely. Misfortune just seems to trail the 31-year-old.

Already this year, Van Aert fractured his ankle in a cyclo-cross crash, before illness delayed his season start at Omloop Nieuwsblad. Then, when he eventually pinned a number on at Le Samyn, he punctured out of the race with less than 10km to go. He might have won that thrilling edition of Paris-Roubaix, but the adversity has returned, with an elbow injury taking him out of the Tour de France. It's one stroke of bad luck after another.

Bad luck seems in endless supply for Van Aert. Despite being one of the favourites every Classics season, the Belgian has only ever won Paris-Roubaix once, and never triumphed at his home race, the Tour of Flanders.

In 2022, he tested positive for Covid days before Flanders, depriving him of an opportunity at Belgium's biggest race; Mathieu van der Poel went on to win. A year later, Van Aert finished third at Roubaix after puncturing on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Van der Poel won. In 2024, Van Aert looked in great form, before crashing at Dwars door Vlaanderen and ending his tilt at the Classics early. Last year, he raced them all, but was coming back from the serious knee injury he suffered at the Vuelta a España the previous summer. Now, he has had injury, illness and a puncture all in a few months.

The misfortune is amplified by the fortune his rivals appear to find. Alpecin-Premier Tech's Van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) seem to crash less, which of course is partly down to excellent bike handling, but also down to little flashes of luck. At Omloop ear, Van der Poel somehow managed to avoid the fallen Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling) on the Molenberg, while Pogačar bounced back up from his crash at Strade Bianche last year. It could have been so different. They also seem to get ill less often, which could of course be down to stronger immune systems, but must also just be luck.

It is easy to imagine an alternate history, one where Van Aert has escaped illness, injury and incident, and think of more glory for the Belgian. Five years ago, it seemed like Van Aert and Van der Poel would be going toe-to-toe, pedal-to-pedal, in every cobbled Classic. For various reasons, this hasn't happened.

The truth is, because of the adversity that he has been forced to fight through, more than potentially any other 'big name' in cycling, Van Aert's plight makes him distinctly likeable – he's cycling's Donald Duck: victim of chronic misfortune, and even more beloved for it.

While the sport may seem easy for Pogačar and Van der Poel, there's more of a slog, a struggle for Van Aert. His stage win at the Giro d'Italia seemed like the result of an immense amount of hard work, rather than a solo attack, gliding away, like others. The hard times mean that the good times, like his victory on the final stage of the Tour de France last summer, seem all the better. This is why everyone loved his Paris-Roubaix win so much, it was the feast after the famine.

Somehow, Van Aert remains stoic and successful. He's still a 10-time Tour stage winner, one of the best riders of his generation, and a super-domestique beyond everyone else, to boot – let us not forget his help for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour or Simon Yates at the Giro. Misfortune is part of his story, and cycling fans ultimately wouldn't want it any other way. That said, I hope he has used up all his bad luck for the rest of his career, already. No more smashing mirrors, Wout.

Wout van Aert has been ruled out of Omloop Nieuwsblad with illness, delaying his season start, his team revealed on Thursday.

The Visma-Lease a Bike star was set to make his comeback to racing on Opening Weekend, but will now take time to recover; he will be replaced by Pietro Mattio. He is also on the start list for Le Samyn, on Tuesday, but it is not known if he will be back to health in time.

"Obviously it’s a big blow for me to miss out on my first race, having prepared for the Classics season the whole winter," Van Aert said. "We had a good training camp at Sierra Nevada and I was feeling really strong. But unfortunately, it’s also that time of the year where it’s easy to fall ill. I remain positive about the feeling I had on training and am confident that I will be able to return to racing soon. Just not this Saturday."

It is the latest setback for both Visma-Lease a Bike and Van Aert. Their GC leader Jonas Vingegaard was forced to delay his season start after illness, and this was set to be Van Aert's first event back since he fractured his ankle after crashing in a cyclo-cross race in January.

Misfortune has dogged the Belgian at the Classics in recent years, with crashes, illness and injuries either ruling him out of races or damaging his chances. He is due to continue his season at Strade Bianche, next Saturday 7 March, but potentially not at 100%.

It means there will be no duel between Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), which was expected after the latter was revealed to be racing yesterday. The start list for the men's WorldTour race still contains multiple big names beyond Van der Poel, including Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5), Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché).

Visma-Lease a Bike will look to Frenchman Christophe Laporte and young Briton Matthew Brennan for Omloop and also Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which takes place on Sunday.

Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are to make their season debuts at Omloop Nieuwsblad on Saturday, it was confirmed this week.

Van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech, the reigning Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo champion, has never ridden Omloop before, despite his Classics prowess. Visma-Lease a Bike's Van Aert has raced Omloop six times before, winning in 2022.

On Tuesday, Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed their lineup for Omloop, Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Tuesday's Le Samyn: Van Aert will ride Omloop and Le Samyn, with Christophe Laporte riding all three. Matthew Brennan will race at Omloop and Kuurne.

Van der Poel's spring schedule was announced on Wednesday morning, and will see the Dutchman head to Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, the E3 Saxo Classic, the renamed In Flanders Fields (Middelkerke-Wevelgem), the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

A social media post from Alpecin-Premier Tech read: "As announced after the Cyclo-cross World Championships, Mathieu van der Poel waited to complete his first training block before making a final decision on his road return. After a few solid weeks on the bike, he feels race-ready and will line up at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

"His programme largely mirrors last season. Tirreno-Adriatico will serve as preparation for Milano-Sanremo, the first Monument of the year."

Van der Poel finished his cyclo-cross season by winning a record eighth World Championships title. He's aiming for a record-equalling fourth Roubaix title in April.

Van Aert, who ended his CX season early after crashing in January and fracturing his ankle, is expected to ride Strade Bianche, as well as Tirreno, San Remo, Flanders and Roubaix this spring.

Among the other favourites for Saturday's men's race will be Tom Pidcock (Pinarell Q36.5), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), and Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), along with defending champion Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).

The women's race is headlined by Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), alongside Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).

You could hear Wout van Aert coming before you saw him at Visma-Lease a Bike’s team presentation on Tuesday afternoon. He clomped around in a grey protective boot, resting his fractured right ankle on a cushion during the ceremony.

Here we go again, he must have thought after his 2 January crash in Zilvermeercross. It was the latest setback in a misfortune-strewn two years, following a fractured collarbone, rib and sternum at the 2024 Dwars door Vlaanderen and a 2024 Vuelta knee injury which still bears a gruesome scar.

Having been ready and raring to go for the forthcoming season, the shoe is literally on the other foot for Van Aert. It would be understandable for him to be frustrated.

“Sometimes you get really tired of it and it’s also okay to be done with it for a few days,” Van Aert told the media in a round-table chat on Tuesday in La Nucia, Spain. “But there’s still a lot to win and there’s also even moments, just a few weeks [ago], riding between amazing crowds and meeting a lot of your fans: it still motivates you. It’s more natural to look ahead of me and what’s still possible than to get down.”

While Van Aert remarked that he was “not as consistent as he wanted” in 2025, he has had thrills to go with the spills. Last year, he showed his quality and sense of occasion with a barnstorming ride to Giro d’Italia stage victory in Siena and success through the Montmartre fever pitch in the Tour de France's swan song.

“Those wins really helped me to believe, even when not everything is going well. For example, now I’m still one of the best bike riders in the world and there will be moments where I can show it,” he said.

Van Aert’s race against time 

Although the ankle fracture is locked with a screw, Van Aert can ride his bike. However, he cannot build intensity in training until he is pain-free. It leaves him in a race against time to be fully fit and on-form for a busy spring calendar, culminating in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. His debut is expected to be at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 28. 

“I’m not fully confident [the ankle won’t be a problem], of course not,” he said. “It’s a complicated injury, a fracture and also ripped-off ligaments. If I was a runner or anything else, I would be out for months. Hopefully as a cyclist, it will still be good enough.”

Calling the injury blow that forced him to curtail his cyclo-cross season “mentally quite significant”, Van Aert was comforted by how quickly he could get back on the bike without losing fitness. The 31-year-old went for a gentle road ride on Monday, a mere ten days after his crash.

2026 brings his eye-catching return to Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo for the first time in five and three years, respectively. “These are really beautiful races that I don’t want to miss for the rest of my career,” the 2020 winner of ‘La Primavera’ said. “Always in my head, even the moment when I was choosing to do differently, I knew it would raise my inspiration again.”

A return to the spring’s Monuments will also bring him head-to-head again with his long-time sparring partner, Mathieu van der Poel. “There’s still a rivalry between us, but the rivalry has always been bigger for you guys, for the outside than for us, for the outside,” Van Aert said, adding moments later: “It’s still there but of course Mathieu’s palmarès is a bit bigger than mine.”

He has won three successive editions of Paris-Roubaix. The race still casts a magic spell on Van Aert, even if he has suffered misfortune there, perhaps no more so than a heartbreaking puncture on the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector in 2023, which saw his Dutch adversary ride away to his first victory there. 

“It’s probably the only race where you wake up the next day feeling completely broken and get up on Tuesday still feeling the same,” Van Aert says. “There’s so much impact on your body going over these cobbles. The last hour of this race is more like survival than a real race. So much can happen, bad luck and stuff like that, it’s a race where you really have your head full. Arguably, it’s the best race in the calendar.”

A Swiss army knife of a rider, comfortable on cobbles and hors catégorie climbs, Van Aert is not short of goals. The Tour de France’s opening 19.7 km team time trial around Barcelona is another big objective for the Belgian and the squad. “In my head, I’m also dreaming of wearing yellow,” he says.

He is also set to go line up at August’s Vuelta a España as part of a stage-hunting Visma-Lease a Bike line-up, with British super-talent Matthew Brennan expected to make his grand tour debut alongside him. 

Van Aert had kind words for the 20-year-old super-talent while discussing how they will divide their ambitions: “Matthew is for sure faster in the other completely flat sprints. Even when the stage is hard, the sprint is probably more suitable for him. And there is the fact it will be his first grand tour so nobody knows how he will go after ten days. So we should not put pressure on him and let him experience it.”

“The most important thing is we go really well together and we understand each other. I’m even proud that he’s showing that he learns from me, that’s pretty cool.”

Wout van Aert had successful surgery on his ankle after suffering a "small fracture" during the Mol round of the Exact Cross on Friday.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider hit the ground hard late on during Friday's race, at which time he was on the wheel of his great rival, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in treacherous snowy conditions. Van der Poel went onto win, his eighth victory from eight races this season.

Van Aert appeared to hurt the same leg that he suffered a "serious" knee injury on at the 2024 Vuelta a España, however it was his ankle that was affected this time around. An operation was quickly scheduled for Saturday in Herentals, Belgium.

"Of course I am very disappointed to have to end my cyclo-cross season like this," he said in a statement on Friday. "I was feeling better and better, including today in Mol. I was really looking forward to the race in Zonhoven and the Belgian Championships.

"But my focus will now be on recovery and, later on, the preparation of the road season."

His team later updated: "The surgery was successful. Wout will now begin his recovery."

The Belgian took part in six cyclo-cross races this winter as part of a truncated season, with his best results being two second places, at the X2O Trofee Hofstade and the Superprestige Heusden-Zolder.

"Wout will never be happy if he trains from October to February and has to watch every cyclo-cross race on TV," Visma-Lease a Bike head of performance Mathieu Heijboer told Belgian outlet Het Laatse Nieuws last week. "Then we'll have a Wout who's no longer interested in February. He's too much of an enthusiast for now to expect him to give up cyclo-cross."

However, racing cyclo-cross comes with risks, especially in inclement weather as seen currently; it is not known when Van Aert will be able to return to regular training.

This weekend, Van der Poel continued his domination, winning the Zonhoven round of the UCI World Cup in the sand and snow. He is aiming for a record-breaking eighth CX World Championships title at the end of the month.

In the elite women's race, Lucinda Brand (Baloise verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions) was beaten by Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Premier Tech) to end the former's 13-race winning streak.

The chances of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert completing their five-date cyclo-cross showdown this season took a blow on Friday after Van Aert crashed out of the Exact Cross at Mol, while hard on the heels of the Dutchman.

Alpecin-Premier Tech rider Van der Poel turned up to the event in his Lamborghini and went on to put down comparable power to that of his supercar, leading throughout in what was a freezing blizzard.

Both riders hit the ground numerous times on what was clearly a slippery day, but hard crash on a sweeping right-hander late in the race was clearly too much for Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who was seen hobbling as he made his way off the course and into the warmth.

Indeed, such a cold day was it that Van der Poel was reportedly in tears with the pain of it all after what was his eighth straight victory this season.

"I really suffered from the cold today," said the world champion after the race. "Mol is one of my favourite races, but in these conditions it was incredibly difficult. My hands and feet felt so cold.

"Hopefully, it's not too bad," he said of Van Aert's crash. "In some places, it got really slippery. It was a close race between us, and it's a shame it was decided by a crash."

Van Aert had grazed his knee and hurt his ankle, team boss Jan Boven told Belgium's Het Nieuwsblad, with the latter meriting closer inspection.

"He couldn't finish the race and is experiencing significant pain in his ankle. It needs further investigation before we can draw any real conclusions," Boven said. "He has minor abrasions on his knee, but that's it. His ankle is the most painful. It's so swollen, we have to see what examinations show now."

Only time will tell whether Van Aert will survive to fight another day and face Van der Poel for a final time at Sunday Zonhoven World Cup.

Exact Cross marks Van der Poel's second victory in 2026 already. He won at the X2O Trophee Baal race on New Year's Day – an event which also saw Lucinda Brand take her 13th consecutive win, and Zoe Bäckstedt take her first elite podium this season.

So far Van Aert has ridden six of his planned eight cross races this season, and the three-time former world champion has performed less well than many might have expected him to. A pair of second places in X2O Trophee and Superprestige races are his best results so far. Other events have seen him well down the top-10 and, now, DNF.

But the Belgian is riding cross for more than just the glory, his team bosses told Belgian outlet Het Laatse Nieuws.

"Wout will never be happy if he trains from October to February and has to watch every cyclo-cross race on TV," said Visma-Lease a Bike head of performance Mathieu Heijboer. "Then we'll have a Wout who's no longer interested in February. He's too much of an enthusiast for now to expect him to give up cyclo-cross."

Focussing more on the road might, feasibly be a better idea on paper, when it came to Classics preparation, Heijboer said, but added: "Everything hinges on a rider's happiness with what they're doing," with cyclo-cross helping in that respect.

He also said Van Aert was not neglecting his road duties, interspersing his off-road outings with long rides on the tarmac.

"He's definitely racking up enough [road] cycling time compared to the other road riders," he said.

Van Aert's final cyclo-cross race of the season is due to be the Belgian National Championships on January 11.

Almost 300 men and women won an elite bike race in 2025, and that's only counting road events. Of those, it won't be a particular surprise that Tadej Pogačar topped the men's charts with 20 victories, and Lorena Wiebes the women's, with 25. It was Demi Vollering, however, who topped the UCI Women's WorldTour rankings.

None of this particularly matters in this latest list of our riders of the year.

We have already had Cycling Weekly's riders of the year, it's true, but that set of awards is British-focused, and decided by committee. This is a chance for our staff writers to go international, and make sure their favourites get their time in the limelight. There are no rules to this, beyond it should make sense, and repeats are allowed – although only one person chose Tadej Pogačar...

This is the second in a series of pieces where we have compiled thoughts from across the CW staff about 2025, and our favourite places to ride. Do let us know your thoughts!

Lorena Wiebes – Tom Davidson, senior news and features writer

Let me start this nomination with a simple fact: no rider, male or female, has won more races than Lorena Wiebes in 2025. The SD Worx-Protime rider claimed 25 road victories this season (Tadej Pogačar managed 20) – her best tally to date – and that’s not to mention the gravel world title and two track world titles she won, too.

To put it simply, Wiebes won everywhere. First race day of the season at the UAE Tour? Tick. Inaugural women’s Milan-San Remo? Tick. A stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift? Tick, plus another for good luck. For many riders, the tough thing can be keeping that consistency all the way through to the end of the year. How many of her last nine races did Wiebes win in 2025? Eight. Case closed.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot – Simon Richardson, magazine editor & Anne-Marije Rook, North American Editor

Simon:

Being by far the strongest rider in the peloton is a gift. Yes, that rider can rightly claim to be the best, but honestly, how impressive is it if you win everything at a canter because of the physical ability passed down through your parents' genes?

What’s truly impressive is targeting the biggest two races on the calendar and winning them. And that’s what Pauline Ferrand-Prévot did in 2025. She also did it on her comeback to the road after years focusing on mountain biking. Yes, yes, yes, she will have trained on the road a great deal, but her positioning and peloton prowess would have been more than a little rusty.

Add to that the fact she was a new member of an already established team and needed to get everyone on board with her plan, and you have an exceptional achievement that surpasses simple physical ability.

Anne-Marije:

I’m such a fan of her story arc. We often, and rightly, call Marianne Vos the G.O.A.T. of women’s cycling, but Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is right there alongside her.

The 33-year-old Française is a 15-time UCI Elite World Champion across road, cyclocross, gravel and multiple mountain bike disciplines. She’s also the reigning Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion. Few riders in the history of the sport can match that level of versatility, that sustained excellence or that trophy chest.

After conquering virtually everything there is to win off-road, Ferrand-Prévot signed a three-year deal with the Visma | Lease a Bike super team in 2024, with the stated goal of winning the Tour de France within two to three years. She didn’t need nearly that long. In her very first attempt, and after five years away from the road peloton, she went out and won the thing. And with dominance at that.

Her Tour victory was nothing short of sensational. As was her Paris-Roubaix win, proving her versatility.

Ben Healy - Aaron Borrill, tech writer

In a sport that often tends to get quite robotic in terms of how riders approach racing, Ben Healy has been nothing short of a pleasure to watch. An animator in its purest form, Ben attacks using his instincts, not his power meter, and it shows in the way he races with his heart on his sleeve.

He demonstrated this in spades at this year’s Tour de France, where he delivered a magnificent solo breakaway to win in Vire Normandie on stage six. He continued his fine run of form to finish third on stage 10 and snatch away the yellow jersey, becoming only the fourth Irish cyclist in history to don the coveted maillot jaune.

And then he did it all over again at the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, with a performance that earned him a bronze medal. Asked about what events are on his radar in the future at a team event in Girona last month, the Irishman told Cycling Weekly, “I’d like to try the Cape Epic, that looks like proper fun.”

Mathieu van der Poel – Adam Becket, news editor

There's something about Mathieu van der Poel that doesn't always sit right with me, it might be the Lamborghinis and the self-importance, but he is undeniably one of the best bike riders in the world, possibly ever. If it weren't for Pogačar, his season with victories at Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France would be heralded.

It's hard to see how a rider like the Alpecin-Deceuninck man can be beaten at times; he can match Pogačar on the Poggio and then out-sprint him, too. His stage win in Boulougne-sur-Mer at the Tour was classic Van der Poel, and then he fought back into the yellow jersey again. When a race is him vs his Slovenian rival, you know it's a must watch.

Isaac del Toro - Jamie Williams, video manager

It’s close between Isaac del Toro and Oscar Onley. I’ve chosen the former because I think he’ll be the rider that takes over the baton from Pogacar as the world’s best GC rider. Del Toro made mistakes, mistakes his team probably should have helped him avoid, but he’s young and I think he’s learnt from them.

He also handled the loss of the Giro d'Italia admirably, how easy it would have been to cross the line and lose temper with the team, Carapaz or other riders in the heat of the moment. Stunning rides this year and his story is only just beginning.

Evie Richards - Hannah Bussey, tech writer

This one is easy: Evie Richards. She's the first-ever British rider to win the XCO World Championships, the first-ever to win the short track Worlds, and now, the most successful female rider in short track World Cup history, and she seems to have had an absolute blast while doing so.

She's one of the best role models for young girls entering the sport, being vocal about her firm belief that you can win on the bike without sacrificing your health and well-being.

She's clearly worked hard to strike a good balance between life and racing. You can see she genuinely loves it, and it comes through in her riding style. It's such infectious joy that you can't help but be delighted with every result she gets.

If, like me, you have a cycling-fledgling in the family, you would do well also to join the Evie Richards fan club; you'll become a happier person if you do.

Tadej Pogačar - James Shrubsall, senior news and features writer

It's obvious – perhaps a little too obvious in fact. But tasked with picking a rider of the year it's difficult to go with anyone other than Tadej Pogačar. There is little need for me to list his victories here – countless words and many, many stories have been written about them. We've even seen the first tentative strains of what might be termed 'Pogačar Fatigue' from fans (and by his own admission, he's been pretty tired himself).

But as suspense has begun to dwindle when Pogačar is around, the feeling has been growing in inverse proportion that we are seeing history being made in front of our eyes.

If you're feeling a bit jaded with it all (many aren't), know this: in 20 years' time your young clubmates will have to watch you become all wistful as you recount the Slovenian's endeavours. Enjoy this moment.

Wout van Aert - Matt Ischt-Barnard, ecomm and tech writer

Wout van Aert's incredible return to form after arguably an up-and-down 2024 season, in which any brilliance was overshadowed by injury, was fantastic to watch.

Top five finishes across the Classics season quietened any speculation about his ability to still race at the top, before he won stage nine of the Giro d'Italia to put it completely to bed.

However, it was that final ascent and, ultimately, descent of Montmartre climb on stage 21 of the Tour de France that showed just what class he still is, and I hope an omen for the year ahead. A race with Van Aert at the front is never a boring one.

Wout is back, and I hope dearly that he can add another monument to his 2020 San Remo in 2026.

Zoe Bäckstedt - Meg Elliot, news and features writer

This might be cheating because Zoe Bäckstedt is also one of Cycling Weekly’s riders of the year, but I got the chance to interview her for our mag - and our chat only affirmed her place in the top spot, for me.

This year’s success followed an already glittering career, as she added a ninth rainbow jersey to her growing collection. At January's UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, she collected rainbow jerseys in the mixed team relay and the under-23 race. She then went on to win five of the six time trials she competed in, scooping up a national and under-23 world title.

But in her final race of the season, Bäckstedt won gold at the UCI World Championships in Rwanda as the fastest under-23 woman in the time trial. Yet, the attribute that most sung out during our interview was her genuine love of bikes - whether she’s cycling off road or on, she’s just happy to be there, riding at her best.

Wout van Aert has been talking about the mental and emotional challenges he faced following two very heavy crashes in 2024, saying he found it difficult to fully commit in some races this year for fear of falling off again.

"That was a problem all spring, I think. Not always, but at times," the Belgian said. "I didn't dare to throw myself in, and I was torn between being happy that I didn't crash, yet frustrated that I wasn't in position. I found that just riding along didn't make me happy."

Van Aert crashed hard early-season in Dwars door Vlaanderen, suffering a broken collarbone and ribs, while a late-season Vuelta a España crash left him with deep cuts and trauma to his knee.

The 31-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider was talking to Belgian outlet Het Nieuwsblad, having been nominated for the Flandrien of the Year award. This season, he said had revealed to him that he could not really be satisfied unless he was giving everything in races.

"After the Tour de France, I realised that again. We decided not to have a crazy autumn. A good decision in itself, but I rode a handful of races without pressure to perform, which meant I didn't reach my best level and just rode a bit.

"Sometimes I could help the team, sometimes not. In retrospect, I should have saved myself that, because I didn't really enjoy it," he said. "I now know for sure that racing for me is about reaching my highest level and giving it my all."

Now that he is a father of two boys and in his thirties, Van Aert is no longer quite as bold in races as he once was, he said, and unlike when he was younger, the risk of crashing is never too far from his mind.

"When you’re younger, when you’re 20 years old, you don’t even really think [about] crashing," said Van Aert. "It’s not even in the back of your mind. But then after a couple of injuries, you understand what it’s like. It’s normal that you carry this with you. Every injury gets more complicated, and it doesn’t help when you get a family and have children."

In what was an extensive interview, he also talked about his stage win at the Giro d'Italia in 2025, which saw him beat Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on a day that mimicked Strade Bianche, with some of the same gravel sections and the Siena finish.

"I wasn't at the start of that gravel stage with any sense that it could be my day." he said.

"My family was at the finish line, after not having seen them for about 10 days. Siena is also where my road career began and where I've experienced some great moments. The racing conditions were also favorable, and I needed that, considering the legs I had, because I was absolutely not well.

"Sometimes I believe things are just meant to be," he adds. "I can't describe the feeling. There aren't many victories that come close to that feeling. I get goosebumps just talking about it. Everything came together there."

He also picked out his victory on the final stage of Tour de France win over Montmartre, which he said he had hoped – assumed – that GC winner Tadej Pogačar would not be contesting.

"As much as he loves racing, I thought, 'He's going to use his head, isn't he?' He seemed to be counting down the days beforehand, too.

"I still remember the moment I saw Pogačar next to me on Montmartre and it felt like a setback that he would be competing. Looking back, I'm incredibly happy he participated. It gave that victory so much more prestige."

The Flandrien of the Year Award ultimately went to Van Aert's countryman Remco Evenepoel.

What do pro cyclists get up to in the off season? When races are a distant - but ever nearing - certainty. It’s a time to strengthen team cohesion, to work on fitness and improve technique for a summer of back-to-back racing, and, in some cases, to go off-script - to carry the Olympic torch, or descend into the woods to heave around giant logs dressed in Celtic garb, or perform dramatic lip-syncs... Here is this weeks social media round-up.

1. Four time world champion time triallist, Tony Martin, swaps the bike for his first half marathon - his "first competition in four years,” since retiring in 2021 over safety concerns. He says he’ll be back to improve his time next year.

2. After last week’s UAE Team Emirates’ group excursion to the Dubai autordrome, Soudal Quick Step's team-building has been decidedly more rustic, with photos showing them moving heavy logs and barrels in kilts, with Scottish flags fluttering just out of shot - in Belgium?

3. Uno-X Mobility, on the other hand, are wishing the down-season away, with this hotel hallway rendition of Raye’s ‘Where is my Husband!’

4. Forget Spotify Wrapped, here is our North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook’s Sportify Wrapped: Cycling Edition. ‘You overheard 52 Cat 4 men claim they could finish a Tour de France stage ‘easily’’; ‘you logged 90+ minutes of relationship damage control because ‘I’ll be home soon’ remains your most-played lie.’

5. ‘I slipped so many times watching this’ wrote one Instagram commenter after spending twenty mesmerising seconds watching Wout van Aert balance along this wet boardwalk.

6. It’s strange to think that every professional cyclist started off a novice, but in this reel from the 11 time Irish National Champion, Orla Walsh, she looks back on her journey from commuter to track champion.

7. Downhill world champion, Jackson Goldstone takes on Wout van Aert in a game of speed and strength in this tennis ball challenge from Red Bull - but who will win…

8. In the summer, Chris Hall cycled the perimeter of Britain to raise funds for Movember. He’s now on the other (drier) side of the challenge and revisiting unreleased footage - he’ll be releasing the videos throughout December.

9. Reckon you’ve got the legs to outpace Jonas Abrahamsen?

10. Finally, Filippo Ganna has swapped the lycra for an all-white tracksuit - and a flaming torch. He picks up the Olympic torch from tennis player, Jasmine Paolini.

Over the last few months, the topic of financial change within professional cycling has been routinely aired. In early November, Jérôme Pineau proposed the privatisation of the final five kilometres of Alpe d’Huez. Just last week, Wout van Aert shared his concern over the “fragility” of the sport’s financial format with De Tidj.

Now, in an interview with the Financial Review, Mark Cavendish is adding to the financial fervour. “There are revenue streams that aren’t being properly utilised,” he said, on the topic of starting a possible future team. The sport the Manx retiree envisions, however, would look different to the current offer, more akin to high-spectacle, king-maker sports like Formula 1.

“Something I never really understood with cycling is that you were more likely to get a [professional] contract based on quite subjective decisions,” he said on the difficulty he faced on securing sponsorship as he aged, despite retaining "marketability". “Sport is run 100 per cent on media spend. So even though I was winning as I got older, I couldn’t get contracts because I don’t think any team wanted the risk of me not winning."

Cycling, in other words, might produce superstars, but the industry lacks the impetus to capitalise on their existence. "I don’t mean this arrogantly but that didn’t make sense because I was always valuable to a sponsor. There were a lot more people making a benefit from sweat in my last years than I was.”

At the moment, most of a rider’s income comes from their teams. The money teams get comes from sponsors, and the income generated at races tends to stay in the pockets of the race organisers. The legacy of this scramble for sponsorship funding has contributed to the Lotto-Intermarché merge, and the complete closure of Arkéa B&B. The French media estimated that ASO earned about $350 million in 2023 - a sum most teams didn’t see a proportion of.

“Spectators come to watch the race to see your riders, but your riders don’t get paid anything. That’s what’s unfair,” Pineau said in a podcast interview with RMC Sport. “Hospitality areas are set up at the Tour and other major races, but it’s the organiser who takes the money, not the people who put on the show.”

“This winter is a real battlefield of people losing their jobs,” Van Aert told De Tidj. “I think that fragility would be far less if income came not just from sponsors but also from the sport itself. From TV rights, for example, or other sources, so that losing one sponsor doesn’t immediately put a team on the brink.”

As Cavendish looks to Formula 1 as an enviable structure that could be in part mimicked in cycling (insofar as individual athletes are able to explore alternative income streams), Van Aert looks to America's National Basketball Association (NBA): “it controls its playing field while still letting the teams benefit from TV money.”

“But in cycling, we might be too focused on its charm and folk character. Charging five euros for entry doesn't mean it’s no longer a people’s sport.”

The UCI boss David Lappartient disagrees. “A legal framework needs to be established,” he told Ouest-France. “Charging for public space in France is complicated. It’s not impossible, but it would be a revolution. Just look at the pension reform … So if you want to charge for the Tour de France, you’re in for a long haul.”

The world's top two men's cyclo-cross racers, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have both announced their programmes for this winter now, setting the scene for five thrilling face-offs.

Two of those will be in the UCI World Cup series, two in the top-tier X2O Trofee and one at the Exact Cross at Mol on January 2.

Although their seasons these days are built around the road, both riders are former cyclo-cross world champions and World Cup winners, and even now start as favourites in any race they enter. Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is the more prolific of the two, having won five World Cup rounds and the Elite Men's World Championships last season – and beaten Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) twice while doing so.

It all means that the other top men's racers have been watching carefully for this particular announcement, as their return to the fray will have a significant impact on the World Cup plans of the more dedicated cyclo-crossers.

"Mathieu, and Wout coming back is a factor…" British cross racer Cameron Mason told Cycling Weekly last month.

"They'll probably be back racing in December," he said. "Even without them the depth of the elite riders is pretty apparent this year [but] I don't have any doubts that I can be there on the right day."

His short but sweet cyclo-cross season is timed to contribute to his build-up to the early-season Classics, Van Aert explained on the Visma-Lease a Bike website.

“The Christmas period is a phase of the cyclocross season that I always enjoy being part of,” he said. “Because of the races themselves, the large numbers of supporters who come thanks to the holidays, and the fact that these races fit perfectly into my build-up towards the major spring classics on the road.”

This season, Van Aert's scant eight-race programme is significantly more compact than that of his rival, with Van der Poel planning to compete in 13 races, including the World Championships in Hulst, Netherlands. If the Dutchman – who is the current reigning champion – won this, it would be his ninth rainbow jersey in the event.

One top CX rider who is expected to be missing this winter, however, is Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling), who has made no moves towards off-road so far.

Races in bold below will see the pair together.

Wout van Aert's cyclo-cross programme 25/26

December 20 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
December 22 – X2O Trofee, Hofstade, Belgium
December 23 – Superprestige, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
December 28 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Dendermonde, Belgium
December 29 – X2O Trofee, Loenhout, Belgium
January 2 – Exact Cross, Mol, Beligum
January 4 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Zonhoven, Belgium
January 11 – Belgian National Championships, Beringen

Mathieu van der Poel's cyclo-cross programme 25/26

December 14 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Namur (tbc), Belgium
December 20 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
December 21 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Koksijde, Belgiun
December 22 – X2O Trofee, Hofstade, Belgium
December 26 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Gavere, Belgium
December 29 – X2O Trofee, Loenhout, Belgium
January 1 – X2O Trofee, Baal, Belgium
January 2 – Exact Cross, Mol, Belgium
January 4 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Zonhoven, Belgium
January 18 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Benidorm (tbc), Spain
January 24 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Maasmechelen, Belgiun
January 25 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Hoogerheide, the Netherlands
February 1 – UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Hulst, the Netherlands

How to watch

UK subscribers to Discovery+ will find these races on the streaming platform (£30.99/month), with some also making it to the TNT Sports linear TV channels.

Fans in the USA will find the World Cup races on Flobikes ($29.99/month) and the rest on HBO Max ($18.49/month).

You can watch the UCI Cyclocross World Cup for free in many parts of the world, with the UCI providing free live streaming on its YouTube channel. The Exact Cross and X2O events are usually available to watch for free in Belgium through Sporza.

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As many of the world’s best pro cyclists bed in for the off-season, Wout van Aert spent Tuesday morning in northern France, riding the farm tracks of Paris-Roubaix, over and over again.

So much so, in fact, that the Belgian became the Local Legend – a Strava title given to the rider who has completed a single segment the most in a 90-day period – on one of the race’s cobbled sectors: Camphin-en-Pévèle, which he rode seven times.

The 2km-long, four-star sector typically comes fifth from last in the race, with around 20km to go, just before the famous Carrefour de l’Arbre. Its difficulty is ranked four out of five stars, making it one of the most challenging stretches in the race.

So, with four months to go until the next edition of Paris-Roubaix, what is Van Aert plotting?

According to Belgian publication Het Laatste Nieuws, the reconnaissance visit came as part of Visma-Lease a Bike’s equipment testing for next season. Van Aert was accompanied by Christope Laporte, twice a top-10 finisher in the Monument, as well as two of the team’s new recruits: Timo Kielich and Aldo Taillieu.

One of the tools Visma were said to be testing was the Gravaa adjustable tire pressure system, first seen at the race in 2023, which allows riders to inflate or deflate their tires via Bluetooth buttons while riding. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot used the technology when she won the women’s race earlier this year.

Van Aert was also likely to have been testing things like tire width, wheels, and his technique over the cobbles.

Van Aert shared his Tuesday recon to Strava under the name ‘Dokkeren’ – a Flemish term used to describe riding over cobblestones.

The 95km ride was concentrated only on a loop around the Camphin-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre sectors, the latter he appeared to ride five times. It was here, in 2023, that Van Aert suffered an untimely puncture, ruling himself out of a finale with the eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel, and finishing third.

Winning Paris-Roubaix has long been one of the Belgian’s career goals; he has twice finished on the podium (3rd, 2023; 2nd, 2022) and placed 4th this April.

Van Aert will now return to Visma-Lease a Bike’s Netherlands HQ for medical testing later this week, before heading to Spain on a team training camp next month. It is uncertain when he will begin his cyclo-cross season, although his first race is expected to be just before Christmas.

Wout van Aert is to lead a group ride on ROUVY this week, as the first of a series of pro-led events on the app.

The Visma-Lease a Bike star will take part in the ride on Thursday, 30 October at 5pm GMT/6pm CET/1pm EDT on the indoor training app, with a live Q&A following. The Belgian has recently returned from an off-season holiday, and is likely ramping things up towards cyclo-cross.

Van Aert and whoever decides to take part will be virtually riding on Tenerife’s Pico del Teide, 23.1km with 376m elevation gain, so a nice way to blow out the cobwebs inside, or the cobwebs on your home trainer. Participants can even see a livestream of Van Aert tackling the same route via Instagram; it's open to all ROUVY subscribers.

Thursday's event will be the first in a number of events where ROUVY riders will be joined by cyclists from Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek over the winter. 6,500 people signed up to the first ride with Van Aert, so it is a popular activity.

The press release reads: "Opportunities to ride with cycling’s elite are few and far between, but ROUVY is making this a near-reality with these live-streamed social rides where you’ll get to virtually rub shoulders with some of the world’s best riders."

"We’re always looking for ways to add engagement to our users’ indoor cycling experience, and connecting with the professional riders and teams which we work closely with is a great way to bring together riders of all levels in one virtual event," Antonín Parma, ROUVY's product experience director, said.

"It’s also a perfect way for us to spotlight some of the stunning and exciting ride routes we have from all around the world coming this autumn - from popular training camp destinations such as Tenerife, Denia and Calpe, to much more far-flung corners of the world, including recent additions like Bolivia, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan."

If you're wondering whether to plump for Rouvy or Zwift for your indoor riding this winter, then take a look at our guide, all part of indoor training week here at Cycling Weekly. Subscription to Rouvy costs $19.99 / £17.99 a month, although there is a free trial for new users. For more info on the Wout van Aert ride, click here.

Wout van Aert has decided to skip this year’s UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, and will end his season in September.

The Belgian, four times a silver medallist at the Worlds, said in a statement from his Visma-Lease a Bike team that he does not want to “overdo” his racing.

Instead, Van Aert will compete at four more races this year: the Deutschland Tour on 20-24 August, Bretagne Classic-Ouest de France on 31 August, GP de Québec on 12 September, GP de Montréal on 14 September, and finally the Flemish one-day Super 8 Classic on 20 September.

“It’s important to still set some important goals for the last part of the season, and with this calendar, we’ve certainly succeeded,” Van Aert said in a statement.

“At the same time, after such a packed season, it’s crucial not to overdo it. That’s why we’ve decided to end my season after the Super 8 Classic and skip both the World Championships and European Championships.”

So far this season, the Belgian has raced 56 days on the road, including two Grand Tours in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, at both of which he won a stage. He also rode four rounds of the cyclo-cross World Cup at the start of the year, placing second at the World Championships.

“It’s been a great year, with major goals coming in quick succession,” Van Aert said. “As in most years, the spring classics and the Tour de France were my main objectives. I’m also happy that I finally got to experience the Giro d’Italia. That variety – the same reason I rode the Vuelta a España for the first time last year – is something I need and find very motivating.”

This will be the second year in a row that Van Aert has missed the World Championships, after he withdrew from last year’s Vuelta with a “serious” knee injury, and was sidelined for the event in Switzerland.

In 2020, the Belgian placed second in both the road race and the individual time trial at the Worlds in Imola, Italy. He was second again in the time trial the following year in his native Belgium, and finished runner-up in the road race the last time he competed, in Glasgow in 2023.

This September’s race in Kigali will be held on one of the toughest routes in history, with 5,475m of elevation gain for the elite men over a 267.5km course. The time trial is 40.6km with 680m of climbing.

The UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda are scheduled for 21-28 September. The official start list is yet to be confirmed for the event, although it is expected Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar, the recent Tour de France winner, will defend his road race title.

Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG will appear at the Tour of Britain Men for the first time this September as part of a 19-team field that will contest the race.

However, the Slovenian is unlikely to be part of the UAE squad for the six-day competition. Pogačar was initially due to race the Vuelta a España after claiming a fourth Tour de France title, although he withdrew from the race earlier this week due to fatigue; he will return to competition at the GPs de Québec and Montréal in Canada before the World Championships.

As well as UAE, eight other WorldTour squads will be on the start line in Suffolk on 2 September: Visma-Lease a Bike, Groupama-FDJ, Bahrain Victorious, Ineos Grenadiers, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Soudal Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek, and Picnic PostNL. Similarly to UAE, Groupama-FDJ will also debut at the event.

Soudal Quick-Step, Ineos Grenadiers and Visma-Lease a Bike are the three most successful teams in the history of the modern Tour of Britain, having won a total of 64 individual stages between them.

Apart from the presence of Geraint Thomas, no other riders have been confirmed as part of the start list yet. The Welshman is due to retire at the end of the race in his hometown of Cardiff. Ahead of the World Championships, it's possible for riders to attend the Tour of Britain as a warm up race, as Wout van Aert did when he triumphed in 2021 and 2023 and could be part of the Visma team selection once more.

Elsewhere, eight ProTeam level squads are set to take part. Israel-Premier Tech - the team of last year's winner, Stevie Williams - are set to return, as are Uno-X Mobility, Unibet Tietema-Rockets, Kern Pharma, Flanders-Baloise, and Tom Pidcock's Q36.5 Pro Cycling. The third squad making its Tour of Britain debut is Tudor Pro Cycling, the team of the two-time road World Champion Julian Alaphilippe.

After impressing with aggressive riding in last year's event, the Anicolour-Tien 21 squad will return to the race next month. The Portuguese registered team will be the only UCI Continental team included. Great Britain will also field a six-rider strong team as usual.

"This year's line-up of teams for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men is one of the best that we have ever seen assembled for the race, and shows the status with which the event is held by UCI WorldTour and Pro Teams," said the race's managing director, Jonathan Day. "Excitement is building for September, and what will be a highly competitive Lloyds Tour of Britain Men. We cannot wait to see these teams in action."

The Lloyds Tour of Britain Men gets underway in Woodbridge, Suffolk on 2 September.

Wout van Aert put in a "career best performance" in order to deliver Simon Yates to Giro d’Italia victory, according to his team's head of performance.

Visma-Lease a Bike's Mathieu Heijboer told Cycling Weekly on Monday that Van Aert's showing on the Colle delles Finestre was proof of the unity in the team, as they powered towards Giro success.

After making the day's breakaway on stage 20, the Classics specialist was ready and waiting to put in a huge turn in the valley road to pull Yates closer to the stage finish in Sestriere - Yates had already attacked on the slopes of the penultimate climb.

Heijboer did not reveal any data from Van Aert's ride, but said that it was like nothing he had seen before from the Belgian.

"Wout van Aert did a one hour career best performance actually," Heijboer said as he reflected on Visma's stage 20 display. "He never rode faster for one hour than on the Finestre. He did all of that to make it over the top so he could support Simon in the last 15 kilometres and I think that says it all."

He added: "That togetherness and shared commitment, shared goal, is something we create in the preparation for the race and that has really paid off for us, especially in the last stage."

Speaking on Monday, Yates's former British Cycling mentor Keith Lambert told CW that he felt the Briton had ridden a "stealthy" race, enabling him to fly under the radar and keep himself in contention during a frenetic opening week, which closed off with a gravel stage into Siena.

Heijboer agreed with the sentiment, reiterating that a strong showing from the entire team had enabled their man to achieve his goal.

He said: "Simon did a super good climb on the Finestre, but when you look at the Giro as a whole, I think as a team we really brought him in every time into a good position and he profited a lot from our other goals, like sprinting with Olav Kooij.

"We couldn’t complain about the luck we had in the stage to Slovenia when a lot of guys crashed, but it was the quality of our group as a team that kept us in front."

With the second rest day out of the way at the Giro d’Italia, the riders looking to challenge for the overall title immediately face a major challenge in the form of the 28.6 kilometre individual time trial between Lucca and Pisa.

Isaac del Toro carried the race leader’s pink jersey, the maglia rosa, into the rest day after claiming it in impressive style on the gravel stage to Siena, which was won by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike). 21-year-old Del Toro will be the last man down the start ramp at 16:40 local time in Lucca (15:40 BST), with more than a minute over his teammate, Juan Ayuso, in second place in the overall standings.

The first rider down the start time will be Alexander Krieger of Tudor Pro Cycling at 13:20 CEST (12:20 BST), although the first riders to watch won't be on television until 1pm BST onwards.

The two main favourites for the stage are Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) and Van Aert himself. Tarling won the stage two time trial in Tirana and will be the man to beat this time out.

The first major contender to race will be Primož Roglič at 16:13 (15:13 BST). The Slovenian lost a chunk of time on the gravel stage on Sunday but will be hoping to immediately claim some of that back. Adam Yates (UAE Emirates-XRG) will start three minutes after Roglič before Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) gets his time trial underway at 16:22 (15:22 BST).

Climbers like Bernal and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) are not renowned time trial experts and will be riding purely with the aim of conserving as much time as possible before the high mountains arrive, but could surprise us all.

Pre-race favourite Ayuso (UAE Emirates-XRG) will start at 16:37 (15:37 BST) before Del Toro gets started at 16:40 (15:40 BST). You can see all the key times to make a note of below. Remember to factor in the hour ahead time difference to Italy if you’re tuning into live coverage from the UK this afternoon. Remember to check out our how to watch the Giro d'Italia guide.

Who would win in a fight between 100 men and one gorilla? That’s the question that’s been doing the rounds on the internet of late.

It’s hypothetical, of course. In the scenario, the men are unarmed, and the gorilla is an adult male silverback, also unarmed, for the sake of fair conditions. No brave army has been bold enough to take on the challenge as yet, so until they do, we’re free to toy with the idea.

Visma-Lease a Bike put the thought experiment to their riders this week at the Giro d’Italia.

Who does Wout van Aert think would win? “One gorilla? I don’t know,” the Belgian shrugs. The question is silly. Van Aert’s mind is on more important things, and yours should be too. Maybe we ought to call it a day there. Maybe we shouldn’t be asking the riders nonsense as they focus on one of the biggest races of the year?

Suddenly, up steps Simon Yates, and the debate is alive again. “I’ve seen this,” Yates says with a smile after hearing the question. “It depends on which humans it is, right? You could have the biggest guys, the baddest guys on the planet,” he continues. “I say the humans. One hundred humans? You could have everybody. Get the guys from the MMA and all that, boxers.” The gorilla is shaking in his boots.

The question then changes. What if the 100 humans were all Edoardo Affini, the team’s 1.9m-tall TT specialist? “One hundred Edos beat the gorilla!” says Olav Kooij confidently. “One hundred Edos, of course,” Van Aert concurs, now lured into swapping sides. Affini himself is not so confident. “Gorilla,” the Italian says with an assured nod.

We can now all rest easy. The primatologists of Visma-Lease a Bike have had their say: 100 MMA fighters would win, 100 Affinis would not.

What the squad’s social media team maybe didn’t expect was the sharp wit of those in the comments sections. “What about three Visma-Lease a Bike riders v one Neilson Powless?” people wrote on both X and Instagram.

Fortunately, that debate has already been settled, with all parties spared of a bloodshed. If you want to know which way it fell, I suggest you look up the finale of this year’s Dwars door Vlaanderen. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a good day for Visma-Lease a Bike.

Elsewhere on social media this week, a stray goat terrorised the Giro peloton, Mads Pedersen drank chocolate milk, and Zoe Bäckstedt took on a flying kilometre time trial on Zwift.

1. For what it’s worth, I think the men would beat the gorilla, as long as they don’t have to go one at a time

2. Who would win between Dion Smith and a rampaging goat?

3. The world's next biggest debate surrounds the use of TT helmets in road stages. Are you in the yay or nay camp?

4. The Giro d'Italia social media admin tends to spend more time making memes than writing about the race, and I'm all for it

5. Less time gap posts, more celebrity dating memes

6. After a transfer from Albania to Italy, the team buses were ready to take the riders across to passport control

7. What better way to announce your lifetime contract than necking a carton of chocolate milk?

8. Lidl-Trek, if you're reading this, I'd like to know what laundry whitener Elisa Balsamo uses on her socks

9. "It's only 1km, it surely can't be that bad?" Think again, Zoe Bäckstedt

10. And finally, Paul Double was in the breakaway at the Giro d'Italia today, which is a good enough excuse to resurface his touching 'Purple Rain' serenade

Kaden Groves won a crash-marred stage six of the Giro d’Italia in Naples as a protest disrupted the finish and reduced bunch sprint.

The Australian launched an unanswerable sprint for the line to take his first win of the season after Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) ran out of gas in his bid for victory. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) took second, with Soudal Quick-Step’s Paul Magnier grabbing third on the line.

After a huge crash took out large numbers of riders earlier on in the race, much of the stage played out with news trickling through that several riders had abandoned. The biggest name to go home was Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Jai Hindley, a former Giro winner. A two-man breakaway, consisting of Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), was caught with around two kilometres left to race.

Visma-Lease a Bike looked to disrupt the reduced sprint for the line with Van Aert, although he was then caught and passed by the rest of the pack with Groves powering to the win. The GC times for the day were neutralised because of the crash, meaning that race leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-trek) was one of several riders who sat up and did not look to contest the sprint. Despite not finishing in the main group, Pedersen held onto the overall lead going into stage seven.

"The first win of the year is a big relief," Groves said afterwards. "Once it started raining, I felt quite a bit better actually as I’m quite good in the cold and wetter conditions, so I for sure had good confidence and I believed in the team who did a super job."

The win was almost two-years to the day since Groves won in Salerno on another day hit by crashes at the Giro.

How it happened

Stage six was the longest stage in this year’s Giro d’Italia. The riders faced a long, rolling day in the saddle as they took on the 227 kilometres between Potenza and Napoli. Two categorised climbs at Valco di Monte Carruozzo and Monteforte Irpino were on the menu.

The climb out of Potenza caused a few initial splits. A six man move managed to get away, including Ineos Grenadiers Ben Turner and the early King of the Mountains leader Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana). The initial break eventually came to nothing, but Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché) were the next guys to go on the attack, quickly pushing their lead out to more than four minutes.

Unfortunately for the peloton, the rain began to come down hard as the stage progressed with riders visibly pulling on wet weather gear in order to deal with the changing conditions. With 72 kilometres to go, there was a huge crash in the main field and multiple riders went down. Several appeared badly injured in the fall with many requiring medical treatment before they could continue. The race was neutralised by the organiser [RCS] to allow as many riders as possible to receive care. Former Giro winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was one of the first to go down and was taken away in an ambulance.

After initially appearing to abandon, Soudal Quick-Step’s Josef Černý was able to continue, although the Czech rider’s legs were visibly soaked in blood as he climbed back onto his bike. The race restarted at 60 kilometres to go with the initial breakaway duo given a 50-second gap to the rest of the peloton.

With no GC times taken at the end of the race due to the crash, a large group of riders - including race leader Mads Pedersen - sat up and opted not to race for the stage victory. RCS said that there would be no points or bonus seconds awarded in Naples with the classifications all set at the moment of the crash. Paleni and Van der Hoorn were caught with two kilometres to race.

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) then came out on top in a reduced bunch sprint to take the win.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2025, stage six: Potenza > Napoli (227km)

1. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecein-Deceuninck, in 4:59:52
2. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis,
3. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step,
4. Max Kanter (Ger) Cofidis,
5. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta
6. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Tudor Pro Cycling,
7. Martin Marcellusi (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF Faizane,
8. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Arkea B&B Hotels,
9. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious,
10. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, in 20:11:44
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +17s
3. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +24s
4. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +31s
5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +32s
6. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +35s
7. Max Poole (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +43s
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, +44s
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +46s
10. Guido Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +50s

In recent years, the unofficial Grand Tour hat-trick has become one of the most sought after prizes in cycling with just one catch - you don’t get a medal, a jersey or a trophy for the achievement. Instead of a more solid prize, riders simply get the prestige of having it listed on their palmarès, as well as kudos from their fellow professionals and the rest of the cycling world.

The achievement doesn’t really have an official name either, but for the purpose of this, we’ll go with the Grand Tour hat-trick. In case it isn't clear, riders who have won stages in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours are those who have completed the treble. 111 men have pulled off victories in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, with Ben O’Connor being the latest to do so. Richard Carapaz, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe also all rounded off a set of stage wins in all three of the Grand Tours last year, the latter with a memorable victory in Fano in the Giro in one of his final acts for Soudal Quick-Step.

With the Giro due to get underway in Albania today, we found ourselves asking: who could complete the hat trick this May? The answer is six riders: Wout Poels (XDS Astana), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair Adam Yates and Rafal Majka.

Members of the triple winners club tend to be repeat stage winners, the sort of riders you could put your last £10 on to win a stage in a Grand Tour and they’d pull it off for you. But it is extremely rare for riders to have won exactly one stage in each of the three races, as as pointed out by Cillian Kelly on his Substack. In fact it’s so rare that only two riders still competing have done just that, Ben O’Connor and Lidl-Trek’s Lennard Kämna.

Separately, four women have completed the hat-trick in the female peloton. Given her prolific winning record during her career, it’s no surprise that Annemiek van Vleuten is one of the four. Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes round off the list. If she takes a win in the Giro Donne this year, Demi Vollering will join the club.

Check out our How to watch the Giro guide to follow all of the racing across the next three weeks, and keep an eye out for the six men who could join the hat-trick list.

Tadej Pogačar took a handful of major Strava KOMs on his way to his second-ever Tour of Flanders victory on Sunday, setting record times on the verified Oude Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont (kasseien) and Koppenberg segments.

And unlike two years ago when he last won the Ronde, he wasn’t flagged for his efforts this time as he took his eighth Monument title and second major victory of the 2024 season.

His second ascent of the famous Oude Kwaremont cobbled climb earned him a time of 2:49, smashing the KOM previously set by EF Education EastPost's Kasper Asgreen by ten seconds. Visma-Lease a bike duo Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson both earned the same time after attempting to stay with the Slovenian, later paying for their efforts.

The Koppenberg climb has a fearsome reputation and is considered one of the toughest parts of the entire Flanders course. Pogačar, however, put the hammer down on the steep slopes and tore up the verified segment in a time of 1:38. He also took the KOM on the full climb segment of the Koppenberg with a time of 3:09.

One of his most notable KOMs came in the segment which relates to the final 38 kilometres of the race. Pogačar tore through that segment on the run into Oudenaarde, averaging a speed of 44 kilometres per hour as he completed it a whole 30 seconds faster than Asgreen and Mathieu van der Poel in 2021.

Other notable KOMs from the World Champion included the 10.91 kilometre long Taaienberg-Hotond sector, which the Slovenian completed in a time of 15:31 at 42.2 kilometres per hour, beating the time set by Wout van Aert in 2020 by three seconds. He also now holds the best time (1:32) on the verified Oude Kruisberg segment.

"The plan was to make it a hard race, to attack on the second time on the Kwaremont, and we executed that plan," he explained.

Pogačar will next be in action at Paris-Roubaix next Sunday as he makes his debut at the race known as the Hell of the North.

No-one could believe what had just happened. Not Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson, the defending champion, who finished fourth. Not Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tiesj Benoot, who finished third. Not Visma-Lease a Bike’s Wout van Aert, the Wout van Aert, who finished second. Especially not EF Education-EasyPost’s Neilson Powless, who finished first.

From a final group of four at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, three in the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike, Powless in pink somehow won. The slumped heads of Benoot, Jorgenson and Van Aert said it all as they crossed the line.

No-one could blame them, really, for not understanding what had happened. After 184.2km of hard racing, in which the race-winning move had been set up around 80km from finish by Visma-Lease a Bike, who would have bet against the men in yellow? Van Aert was there, a man who has won bunch sprints of almost every kind, as well as Classics before. However, something weird happened when the Belgian opened up his sprint in Waregem. He just couldn't get up to speed. Powless, sprinting for his life, could, coming around Van Aert and into cycling immortality.

In his post-victory interview on TV, Powless had to catch himself as he recounted the finalé - “I knew Wout, I thought Wout would be the strongest in the sprint”. He was right, we all knew Van Aert would be the strongest there. It turns out we were wrong, everyone was wrong.

Forget everything you know - Neilson Powless can beat Wout van Aert in a sprint, three vs one doesn’t end in triumph for one of the three. It still doesn’t feel real, but those results are real. It happened. It wasn’t a confidence-boosting win for Wout ahead of the Tour of Flanders, it was the biggest victory of Powless’ career, just EF’s second of the year.

How had Visma allowed this to happen? It wasn’t a carbon copy of Ian Stannard’s improbable victory against three Quick-Step riders at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2015, but it was like a tribute show. The four were alone from 55km to go, and that should have been it, with Powless dispatched. It should be said that the final straight came after a tight corner, with the difficulty that that brings, but it was still a result no-one expected.

Post-race, Jorgenson was open about the horror for his team: “We did a beautiful race up until 10km to go. We decided to go for the sprint with Wout, and it was the wrong decision. We can be honest about that, we also underestimated Neilson. Chapeau to him and congrats. That was a great sprint from him."

“I wouldn’t say it was so much of a surprise,” he continued, although it was, for everyone. “I know Neilson, I know how fast he is. [He’s] super explosive, and Wout, and also [those] in the car, decided to go for the sprint instead of attack, and this is a decision we made because we weren’t comfortable with the gap we had at a certain point and we made the wrong decision.”

Powless was there to be attacked, something obvious in hindsight, but also obvious at the time - the risk came from keeping Powless there, from gambling on the sprint.

"It's going to take me a while to see the positive side of this,” Van Aert told Wielerflits. “If you don't win with three men in a group of four, you always make a mistake. I said I wanted to go for the sprint, so now I have to take responsibility and be hard on myself.

"It's not the team management's fault. I was so convinced of my sprint that they went along with my story. I was too selfish. After all the criticism and bad luck of the past months, I thought about myself. It's a huge mistake. This is not who I am and I'm very disappointed in myself."

Up until the embarrassment of the finish, which will be the only thing remembered from this race, Visma-Lease a Bike had ridden a dream race. Setting the pace and getting three of their riders clear on the Berg Ten Houte so far from the finish could not have gone better, but the finish was not there. That will be the worry going into the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, where Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel will return to the action. Not that their team isn’t strong, or capable of having an impact on these races, but that Van Aert seems incapable of finishing races off at the moment.

The disbelief of Wednesday will not create belief for Sunday, or a week after at Paris-Roubaix. That’s the true cost of this defeat. They can claim the plan worked, but with this result, it couldn't have. The men in yellow will have to hope things come good for them at the Tour of Flanders, or it will be another difficult post-mortem.

Neilson Powless outsprinted Wout van Aert to win Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday and spoil the party for Visma-Lease a Bike.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider had appeared to be the huge underdog as the race reached its finale in Waregem. He went clear with Matteo Jorgenson, Van Aert and Tiesj Benoot after the Visma trio bridged across to the head of the race with more than 70 kilometres to the finish. Powless sat on as Jorgenson and Benoot looked to set up their teammate in the finishing straight before the former unleashed a fierce sprint which saw him topple Van Aert and pull off a huge upset.

It was the second consecutive victory for America at the cobbled classic after Jorgenson’s triumph last year. Benoot completed the podium for Visma with Jorgenson coming home in fourth.

"I really can’t believe it," Powless said at the finish on TV after catching his breath. "I felt really strong today but I didn't think I had any chance to win from that group. I thought I was riding for second place. I can’t believe it, I'm so happy. I want to thank my family, my team, and everyone for supporting me. It's been a rough spring so far, but I'm so happy to be back."

"I never thought in a million years I would beat him in a sprint in a race like this," he continued. "I came in with a bit of speed in the final corner and I already had maybe three or four kilometres an hour faster than Wout when he started his sprint.

"I just went all the way to the line and I was able to carry that speed quite well. There isn’t a lot of space between that last corner and the finish line, so I just had to start my sprint immediately and pray."

After finding himself alone with Van Aert and his colleagues, there was the odd moment where he appeared to be growing frustrated with Visma’s attempts to force him to the front of the lead group.

"It was a constant inner struggle," he explained. "Even my director in the car was going back and forth on whether I should ride. I didn’t want to sprint from a bigger group and it didn’t feel like it cost me too much just to contribute a bit to the group to keep everyone moving, otherwise they would have been attacking me and I would have been dropped. It was a rock and a hard place, but I’m proud of the way I rode."

"This is the biggest win of my life," he added. "I hope I can fight for the win [at the Tour of Flanders], at least fight for the podium. In these races you need a bit of luck, but you also need a bit of confidence. I think I gained one of those today."

How it happened

Much of the pre-race noise coming into the final cobbled classic before the Tour of Flanders centred on one man, Wout van Aert. By his own admission, the 30-year-old Belgian was disappointed with his performance at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday and had a few scores to settle before Sunday's showdown with Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.

Would Van Aert and his teammates come out swinging? The answer was yes. With 70 kilometres left to race, Matteo Jorgenson, Tiesj Benoot, Edoardo Affini and Van Aert himself burst clear from the peloton ahead of the Berg Ten Houte climb and went in search of the remnants of the day’s breakaway. Affini soon dropped away as the quartet reached the summit and quickly passed Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) before making contact with the head of the race.

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was the only rider able to hold the pace set by the flying Visma trio as Jorgenson drove them on up the Knokteberg and Hotondberg climbs. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) repeatedly attempted to force a split in the main field and instigate a move to go after the leading riders. The peloton, however, lacked cohesion and was unable to get organised as the race began to get away from them with the Van Aert group showing no signs of relenting.

With 32 kilometres to go, the much-reduced main field visibly sat up with EF Education knocking off the pace in order to help Powless up ahead. Pedersen, Girmay, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Jasper Stuyven were all there but had 44 seconds still to close in order to reach the breakaway.

Pedersen would not give up and was on the attack again from the second group on the Nokereberg, pushing clear and taking Küng and several others with him. The Dane was doing much of the pace setting in a bid to salvage a result for Lidl-Trek as tension started to appear amongst the leading quartet. Powless was visibly frustrated with the Visma riders, perhaps sensing that it would take something miraculous to finish on the podium in Waregem with Jorgenson, Van Aert and Benoot all firmly in control of proceedings. But there was drama still to come.

Jorgenson took the leading four into the final sweeping right-hand bend before the finish and then peeled off for Benoot to lead out Van Aert. Powless, though, wasn’t going to simply bow down and accept that he was beaten. The American hung on at the back of the group before unleashing a powerful sprint that took him past the Van Aert and over the line to seal the win.

Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 (184.5 km)

1. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education EasyPost, in 3:57:14
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
3. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, both at same time
4. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5s
5. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +45s
6. Tibor del Grosso (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, at same time
7. Dries de Bondt (Bel) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +47s
8. Arjen Livyns (Bel) Lotto
9. Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
10. Alec Segaert (Bel) Lotto, all at same time

Mathieu van der Poel stormed to a second successive victory at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday after dropping Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) on the Oude Kwaremont.

Pedersen fought valiantly in his attempts to close down the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, although the Dane faded as Van der Poel powered on in the grey drizzle of West Flanders and continued his fine early season form after winning Milan-San Remo.

Van der Poel took the win by more than a minute over Pedersen with Ganna securing third, a further minute back on the Dutchman.

Speaking at the finish, the former road world champion hailed the huge effort from his teammates after Alpecin had to dig deep in the early stages in order to keep their key man in the race. “I’m very very happy,” Van der Poel said. “We had quite a tough race for the team, I have to thank my whole team for the amazing job they did today. I was really motivated to finish it off.” An early crash caused chaos in the peloton with Alpecin one of several teams caught out as splits formed.

Van der Poel tracked a move on the Taaienberg from Pedersen with 80km to go, before they were joined by Ganna. Along with the two riders up the road - Aimé De Gendt and Casper Pedersen - they surged on, with little chance of the win coming from behind. The Oude Kwaremont then proved decisive.

“He’s just incredible,” Pedersen said at the finish, describing Van der Poel and his attack on the cobbled climb. “The gap kept extending. It’s impossible to come back from that. On the Kwaremont he made the difference and showed his class again. We wanted to open up the race on the Taaienberg, we talked to the DSes there and decided not to follow but to try it ourselves. It was nice to open up the race, with a smaller group. The shape is there. It was proper racing today, so I’m happy.”

Meanwhile Ganna admitted that his heavier build meant that he simply couldn’t follow when Van der Poel and Pedersen pushed on. “My weight is too high for this climb with these guys. I’m really happy with my performance in the last kilometres (though). I had a fire in the legs and then we were at the top and saw 30km to go, I thought ‘fuck’. It was a really hard race, but I’m happy, the shape is here. I’m not the best rider for the steep climbs.”

How it happened

An early crash sparked panic in the field as splits formed in the race as a result. Wout van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike and Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck were caught out as the race splintered, with the opening 40 kilometres completed in just 45 minutes as Groupama FDJ and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe set an infernal pace at the head of the peloton.

Once the race hit the Kanarieberg the two groups were within touching distance of one another and eventually made contact as the climb progressed. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched an attack over the summit of the climb and took Groupama-FDJ’s Stefan Küng with him. Jorgenson’s move didn’t amount into anything with the real action still to come.

With 80 kilometres to go, the speed suddenly ramped up at the front of the peloton, with Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers driving the tempo into the Taaienberg as rain began to fall. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) used the increased aggression to launch an attack on the cobbles and Van der Poel was the first man able to follow. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) then bridged across, and the trio then joined the last men standing from an earlier move, Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Aimé De Gendt (Cofidis), at the sharp end of proceedings.

A six-man chase group soon formed between the five riders up front and the remnants of the main field. Jorgenson was present for Visma alongside Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates), Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Küng.

On the Paterberg, Pedersen accelerated hard with the aim of cutting the lead five down; Ganna and Van der Poel were the only men able to keep up. The Oude Kwaremont soon followed, and it was Ganna that began the climb first. Van der Poel took over and caused a split as the cobbles began. The former world champion soon crested the summit and was out of sight, with Pedersen 17 seconds down on him and Ganna a further 13 seconds back.

As the rain continued to fall in West Flanders, Van der Poel tore over the Karnemelkbeekstraat and under the 30 kilometre to go banner with 25 seconds over Pedersen back down the road. The slick roads began to become an issue with the Dutchman nearly losing his back wheel on a wet corner.

Van der Poel, however, held on and won by more than a minute in Harelbeke, with Pedersen taking second and Ganna completing the podium.

Results

E3 Saxo Classic 2025 (208km)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4:39:14
2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:05
3. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:04
4. Casper Pedersen (Den) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:33
5. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek
6. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ
7. Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Cofidis, all at same time
8. Tim Wellens (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:35
9. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:38
10. Mike Teunissen (Ned) XDS Astana, +2:43

Dutch professional cyclist Lars van den Berg has been forced to retire from professional cycling due to heart issues, with the 26-year-old saying that it was a "heartbreaking end".

The Groupama-FDJ rider last raced at the Faun-Ardèche Classic last February, and revealed in an Instagram post on Thursday afternoon that "extensive monitoring" by cardiologists determined that the risks of continuing racing were "too great".

Van den Berg was due to start his fifth season with Groupama-FDJ, during which time his best result was second on a stage of La Route d'Occitanie in 2023. He raced the Tour de France that same year, and the Giro d'Italia twice has well. His younger brother Marijn is a pro cyclist for EF Education-EasyPost.

"My worst nightmare has become reality: after a year of recovery and hard work, I’ve been forced to retire from professional cycling," Lars van den Berg wrote on Instagram. "The news came as a huge shock.

"This winter, I finally felt like I was rediscovering my form after a long and challenging road back. But after extensive monitoring, my cardiologists have determined that the risks are simply too great.

"And just like that, my career as a pro cyclist has come to an abrupt and heartbreaking end.

"I can’t quite wrap my head around it yet," he continued. "After four years in the pro peloton, my childhood dream has been cut short. At just 26, I’m left with ambitions I no longer get to chase. No first pro victory, no chance to ride alongside my brother on the same team. That realisation hurts more than I can put into words.

"But as the shock settles, so does a sense of gratitude," Van den Berg added. "I’m grateful to be here, to be healthy, and to have fought my way back into good shape. That’s something I’ll hold on to and work hard to maintain, while spending time with the people who matter most to me.

"In time, I’ll set new goals - and as always, I’ll pour all my energy into reaching them. I don’t know yet where this next chapter will take me, but I’ll keep you updated along the way.

"For now, I just want to say thank you. To everyone who has supported me through 20 years of cycling, and especially to those who stood by me during the toughest moments of this past year."

Groupama-FDJ team boss Marc Madiot said: "Lars has been a pillar of our team, both through his performances and his human qualities. A discreet guy who earned everyone’s trust to the point of becoming indispensable. He’s a great person, and the team is proud to have shared this journey with him. This is a difficult moment for him and for all of us, but health is the absolute priority. Sport is just a chapter, and a new one is now beginning for him."

Van den Berg is far from the first rider to be forced to retire over heart issues - 2021 Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli left the sport the next year, and last year Anna Shackley ended her racing career aged 22 due to cardiac arrhythmia.

What should you get your partner for Valentine’s Day? If you’re to go by tradition, the answer’s a gushy card, some chocolates, and a bouquet of roses. Maybe you’re more of a silly trinkets person, who likes to surprise with a heart-shaped penguin teddy from the supermarket, or a deck of cringy ‘I owe you cards’. Perhaps you prefer to save your money for a nice dinner out – candlelit, of course.

All of these are valid options for us mortals. But if you’re Wout van Aert, you can go a step further.

Early this morning, the Belgian arose before the crack of dawn to make a romantic tribute to his wife, Sarah de Bie. He put on his running trainers, left his hotel, and zigzagged for 7km through the streets of Sineu, a town on the island of Mallorca, where the Visma-Lease a Bike rider is away on a training camp.

I know what you're thinking: what’s a run got to do with Van Aert’s beloved? Well, when he posted his file on Strava, the map revealed an artfully traced ‘S’, his wife’s first initial. “Drawing a heart was a bit too complicated,” Van Aert wrote. “Happy Valentines day S.”

This post was the first thing I saw when I unlocked my phone this morning – yes, I went straight to Strava – and I was touched by the gesture.

It’s an act that required planning, sincere thought, and the passion to get up and run outside before sunrise. What’s more, it dispensed with the commercial nightmare that the holiday has become. It’s a true show of love, heartfelt and freely delivered.

These, I have now realised, are the ingredients for the perfect Valentine’s gift. Van Aert’s a modern-day Romeo, and he nailed it. Now please excuse me while I go and look for my running shoes.

Elsewhere on social media this week, Thibaut Pinot hugs a fluffy calf, Tadej Pogačar teases his debut in Paris-Roubaix, and Lorena Wiebes makes winning look easy.

1. O Wout van Aert, Wout van Aert, wherefore art thou, Wout van Aert?

2. Let's not forget what Valentine's Day is all about: Valentin Paret-Peintre

3. If you haven't bought a card for your significant other yet, EF Education-EasyPost have you covered

4. Let's see how easily Gilles Dockx sings this song when he's four hours into climbing Mauna Kea in Hawaii

5. Don't lie, you've done it too

6. Meet Titi, Thibaut Pinot's new calf, and the cutest farm animal in eastern France

7. Almost three million people saw this video of Tadej Pogačar riding through the Arenberg Forest this week – that's more than the entire population of Slovenia

8. Not everyone was delighted at the idea of Pogačar racing Paris-Roubaix, though

9. It's nice to see Victor Camel-penaerts enjoying the sunshine

10. Lorena Wiebes has 96 victories to her name now, and they're only getting easier

11. If the team mechanic is keeping up with you on foot, you're probably not cycling fast enough

12. And finally, here's Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy getting the hero's welcome he deserves at Murrayfield

I came across a heartwarming video this week of two young cyclo-cross fans returning a watch to Wout van Aert.

It happened at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships last weekend, where the Belgian finished second, earning a silver medal, but losing his beloved Garmin in the process. “How will I ever tell the time again?” he must have thought. The prang of fear lasted only moments.

To the rescue came two local lads, dressed in bobble hats and rainbow-coloured cowbells. They handed over the watch, got a picture in return, and went off on their merry way. A wonderfully touching tale all round.

It made me think about where the line is with keepsakes, though. In some sports, there’s a consensus that anything you catch is fair game. People go to the baseball hoping to pocket some new treasure, for example. Then again, the rules are different at the cricket, where you’re expected to throw the ball back.

So where’s the line in cycling? Well, bidons, casquettes, and musettes are for the taking, everyone knows that. Kit is a grey area – I’ve seen stories of riders asking for discarded rain capes to be returned, while others gleefully toss their sunglasses into the crowd (I’m looking at you, Giulio Ciccone). And watches, well watches, apparently, are a step too far. Caught one? Locate Wout van Aert immediately.

That said, I reckon we wouldn’t have seen such a heartwarming story had those lads caught Mathieu van der Poel’s wrist adornment last Sunday. It’s not that I’m earmarking them as potential thieves, I just think that, if anyone came into the sudden possession of €300,000 worth of riches, they’d probably keep it quiet.

That’s right, Van der Poel reportedly wore a €300,000 watch when he won his seventh world title. A Richard Mille RM67-02, if you were wondering.

You won’t know if I ever catch Van der Poel’s watch, but there will be signs. I’ll stop wearing jeans with holes in them for starters. Oh, and I'll start riding an S-Works.

Elsewhere on social media this week, Bradley Wiggins is back on his bike in Mallorca, Lachlan Morton becomes a barista, and one London cyclist swaps a helmet for chain mail.

1. You're lucky you weren't wearing a Richard Mille, Wout

2. There's a parallel universe somewhere in which Lachlan Morton lives life as the coolest barista in Melbourne

3. Your rollers skills may be good, but can you peel an orange, play the guitar or solve a Rubik's cube at the same time?

4. Sir Bradley Wiggins to the Vuelta a España, you heard it here first

5. How does a pro bike rider get home from a race? They cycle, of course

6. Forget having a lead-out man, try a lead-out van instead

7. How hard can it be giving only wrong answers? Very, if this interview with Wout van Aert is anything to go by

8. Thomas De Gendt is the only rider to have completed 100 Tours de France, or so this photo leads us to believe

9. Who do we think the secret burger lover is then?

10. "Train hard. Rest harder," says Toms Skujiņš. Now there's some advice I can get behind

11. Anyone for a spot of cycle path jousting?

12. And finally, I'll leave you with a collection of the best costumes from the Cyclo-cross World Championships. Come for the Lego people, stay for the Breton chicken

In an unexpected twist, Mathieu van der Poel will go up against Wout van Aert on Sunday for a shot at the cyclo-cross men’s world title in Liévin, northern France at the weekend.

Unlike Van der Poel, Van Aert was initially not scheduled to compete in the worlds but due to his form on the CX field in recent weeks it was announced that he will now be on the start line. Any duel between the longstanding rivals is always highly anticipated, whether it’s on or off road, although the two caked in mud going after the cyclo-cross rainbow jersey is special.

The duo enjoyed an epic battle in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands in early February two years ago, which provided plenty of edge of your seat moments. Van der Poel won that battle, before going on to win again - with Van Aert absent - last year.

Achieving a seventh would be a remarkable feat on Sunday but the presence of Van Aert in France will make things far from straightforward. Van Aert has three world titles to his name and his recent results suggest he will be firmly in contention in Liévin. We’ve put together a summary of both rider’s form going into the elite men’s race in France on Sunday.

Mathieu van der Poel

The flying Dutchman has won eight of the races he has started this winter out of the 11 he was initially due to compete in. Even more impressive. when looking at his form, is that the final four victories came despite him suffering with a fractured rib that he picked up over the festive period.

He kickstarted his cross campaign with victory at the Zonhoven round of the UCI World Cup in Belgium before he then followed that up 24 hours later with another win at the Superprestige Zilvermeercross in Mol.

Next up was the Boxing Day clash at the UCI World Cup in Gavere, Belgium which was a far more closely run affair, with Van der Poel edging out Belgium’s Michael Vanthourenhout by 26 seconds. He then secured the victory in Loenhout the following day by 14 seconds ahead of Nys despite fracturing his rib in a mid-race crash.

Three straight victories then followed at UCI World Cup rounds in Besançon, France, Maasmechelen in Belgium and Hoogerheide in the Netherlands to ensure Van der Poel is well and truly set up for a shot at a seventh world title.

"Pleasantly surprised," Van der Poel said when asked how he felt on learning Van Aert would take part. "It’s always nice to race against a rider like him, but there are other names I’m also keeping an eye on. Thibau Nys is someone who can rise above himself in a championship. Michael Vanthourenhout is also in good form."

Wout van Aert

Van Aert started his cyclo-cross campaign later than his rival and was only initially scheduled to race six races this winter. This decision was made due to him keeping one eye on the start of the Classics and also the fact he was coming back from injury.

The four-time World Champion started his season at Loenhout, the same race Van der Poel obtained his injury, and managed fourth place behind the Dutchman. This was followed by two victories at the Superprestige Gullegem event and the Dendermonde round of the UCI World Cup. Van der Poel was not on the startline for either of those two victories.

The Belgian rode the Benidorm round of the World Cup and finished fourth behind overall winner Thibau Nys. He completed his initial schedule by taking second in Maasmechelen behind Van der Poel. On his decision to participate in the Worlds and face his rival for a shot at the rainbow bands, Van Aert said that being on the startline in Lievin will aid his preparation for his upcoming targets on the road.

"I’m feeling good, and my winter has gone well," he said. "The World Championships only recently came into my mind and after Maasmechelen the Belgian team coach, my coach at Team Visma | Lease a Bike and I decided to compete.

"I am excited to start in such a beautiful race, and I think that this extra boost is doing me good in the lead-up to bigger goals on the road. Obviously the preparation has been very different, but I’ll give it my best."

How to tune in

Our complete guide on how to watch all of the upcoming cycling events due to take place contains all the information you need to catch the Cyclo-cross World Championships this weekend.

Other than the final ten kilometres or so, is there really any point in watching the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris? That’s the question many of my non-cycling friends have regularly put to me over the years when I would religiously tune in to the final day’s procession into the French capital. And to be fair, they probably did have a point.

There’s rarely any exciting racing in any shape or form until the various sprint teams start to get organised ready to tee up their elected fast man for the bunch kick along the Champs-Élysées for the unofficial sprinters World Championships. Unwritten tradition dictates that the race operates in that way on the final day, but surely a bit of variety could do no harm once in a while.

I’ve often sat and urged someone to try something completely unexpected with the aim of spoiling the party for the sprinters. That’s not because I dislike watching a high-octane sprint unfold, but more because mixing it up a little gets people excited and draws new viewers in.

After all, surely that’s why we all watch sport? To be entertained and to be surprised by what’s unfolding before us. I can remember being completely transfixed as a kid when Alexander Vinokourov won in Paris in 2005, and it would make for great viewing to see another rider pull off something similar in the years ahead.

This is why ASO’s reported idea to adjust the final stage of this year’s race to include the Butte Montmartre cobbled climb, made famous by the Paris Olympics road events, should be applauded, however unrealistic it may or may not be. The possibility of the Olympics circuit within Montmartre being replicated by the Tour was quickly ruled out in August by the Tour’s technical director Thierry Gouvenou, although an article in Le Parisien this week suggested that the idea isn't dead completely.

If it does get off the ground, then it will open the race up to an array of different dramatic possibilities, particularly given the high calibre of riders currently operating at the top end of the sport. But, in spite of the exciting prospect that the idea represents, it also still leaves a lot of questions.

For one, how would the riders final general classification times be calculated and would the stage then no longer be for purely ceremonial purposes? If so, whilst it is unlikely, it could mean that there is a very slim possibility that the action could literally go down to the wire in the fight for overall victory. Surely that alone is a thought that many cycling fans would relish, as would the perennial showman Tadej Pogačar if he finds himself a handful of seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard going into the final day this year.

But on the other hand, completely losing the tradition of a bunch dash for the line on the Champs-Élysées could impact the race in other unwelcome ways. What other incentive would then remain for 95% of the race’s sprinters to finish the event if they didn’t have their opportunity to shine on stage 21?

Sprinting is rapidly evolving and changing. There are multiple riders that now regularly contest the green jersey who could probably use a cobbled climb in Montmartre to their advantage and still win the stage - Wout van Aert, Biniam Girmay and Michael Matthews being three obvious examples, although what would then be left for the more purist sprinters, the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and others. The answer is not a lot.

Given that riders in that ilk add drama and excitement to the race in different ways to the more Classics-orientated riders and Grand Tour winners, it would be a shame to completely eradicate their final chance for glory and to see a fair few of them abandon early on.

Ultimately, the prospect of change is good and should be applauded. The success of the final stages in and around Nice last year showed that an adaptation to the course, enforced or not, can work for the race in the future. But erasing the possibility of a bunch sprint in Paris should only be brought into play for one year only. It would make for an exciting and interesting final day once, but bringing in a spectacle like that indefinitely to the race could do more harm than it really would be worth.

He’s won sprints, time trials, in the high mountains, from breakaways and done everything else in between. Wout van Aert’s array of victories naturally ask the question: could he win a Grand Tour?

A year ago, it was reported that the Visma-Lease a Bike rider would be targeting the general classification at the 2024 Giro d’Italia to test his limits and see how far he could go in three-week racing.

But, a fractured collarbone and ribs at the Dwars door Vlaanderen postponed his Giro debut until 2025. So, now he’s, injury- and illness-permitting, finally heading to the Italian three-week race, is the Belgian considering a tilt at pink?

“That was never the plan,” he told the media at his team’s training camp in Spain. “That was the plan in the newspaper, but not my plan.” Would it ever be an option for him? “Not at all. It’s not my plan to do GC. It doesn’t really attract me.”

That’s that solved, then. And when you consider his physical stature – 78kg and 1.90m tall – it’s logical. But all that leading out for Jonas Vingegaard in the rarefied air of the Tour de France’s highest mountains, including when resplendent in the green jersey as the best sprinter, has highlighted his extraordinary climbing ability.

Nevertheless, Van Aert is keen to make an impression in the Grand Tours in 2025. At the Giro, he’s targeting stages – and lots of them. “I look at the parcours and there will be opportunities basically every day because there are a lot of intermediate stages,” he said. “Some bunch sprints for Olav [Kooij, his teammate], and then on the mountain days we will support Simon [Yates].

“I think in the Giro how we will manage it is that Simon will have more of a free role to see how good he can do in the GC, and later one we will decide how much support he needs for that. But the main focus for all the other guys will be to make it a sprint for example or put me or Olav in position. In that case it will be possible.”

At the Tour, where he’s already worn the yellow jersey and won nine stages, he’ll be looking to add to his win tally, while simultaneously supporting Jonas Vingegaard in his attempt to defeat Tadej Pogačar. “In the Tour de France it’s quite simple – I’m the lucky one who has a free role to go for stage results. Apart from that the main focus is to support Jonas," he said.

Van Aert was part of Vingegaard’s two Tour victories in 2022 and 2023, and though Pogačar claimed his third maillot jaune last summer, Van Aert doesn’t believe that the Slovenian will have it all his own way this summer – even if he admits there is work to do.

“I think everyone needs to step up to catch up with him,” he said. "He definitely raised the bar, he was super strong last year, but on the other hand I think less visibly it was like this every year.

“Jonas winning in ‘23 was better than Jonas winning in ‘22. So even if Pogačar won it in ‘24, he needs to be better to win it in ‘25. We’re improving year by year and you always take the work and efforts you did the year before and you improve them.”

Before the Giro and the Tour comes the cobbled Classics, and Van Aert has unfinished business in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, two Monuments that have stubbornly remained elusive.

“I’ve been racing the Tour of Flanders since 2018 and from the first edition it looked really promising that maybe I could win it one day, both Flanders and Roubaix,” he said. “So if you would have asked me then I probably would have believed it by now that I would have won it, or have been more in a position to win it. But sometimes I was far off or not even at the start

“For sure I’m really looking forward to these opportunities again and I do believe that I have it in my legs. The main goal for me is winning the Monuments that are missing.”

Visma-Lease a Bike are producing their own kit for the new season under their own Yellow B label after their partnership with Agu ended on 31 December.

The Dutch WorldTour team revealed on New Year’s Day that their kit design would remain unchanged for the new campaign, although Agu are no longer producing it. A press release issued by the team dropped a subtle mention of the Yellow B label into the discussion but did not confirm that they had taken kit production into their own hands.

Cyclingnews first highlighted that the Dutch squad appeared to be producing their own design themselves. A spokesperson for Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed to Cycling Weekly on Wednesday that the team had in fact now decided to manufacture the kit in-house.

"We have taken the production of our kit in our own hands, which is also visible by the Yellow B. logo on the kit," they said.

Picnic Post NL were the last WorldTour team to produce their own clothing brand. The team previously switched from Craft clothing to its own product, branded with the Keep Challenging team slogan. The kit was initially produced for Picnic Post NL by Bioracer before it later changed to Nalini.

Visma-Lease a Bike declined to comment when asked by Cycling Weekly if another brand was still producing the kit on their behalf.

It was reported that Agu were experiencing serious financial difficulties last year by Wielerflits. It is understood that the relationship between the brand and Visma-Lease a Bike ended by mutual agreement.

In August Agu issued a statement which explained their current situation.

"In recent months, AGU has focused fully on restoring healthy business operations," the statement read. "Thanks to the support and cooperation of all parties involved, the company has managed to turn the result around positively in the past period. AGU has successfully completed a WHOA procedure from December 2023, subject to financing."

It continued: "Unfortunately, it became apparent last week that the financing conditions could not be met. As a result, AGU was forced to apply for a moratorium on payments. In close consultation with the administrators, we are currently investigating whether the WHOA agreement can still be realised.

"AGU is an iconic name in the bicycle industry, the company has a rich history and strong brand value. AGU hopes to find a new owner/financier in the short term who can guarantee the continuation of this heritage. The business activities will continue until further notice."

Visma-Lease a Bike have signed several new riders ahead of the new season for both the men’s and women’s squads. Simon Yates joined the men’s team from Jayco-AIUla as well as Victor Campenaerts from Lotto. Yates said he took a pay cut in order to join his new team.

The team also captured the signature of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot from Ineos Grenadiers. The Frenchwoman will lead the team’s road ambitions alongside Marianne Vos.

Former world champion Tom Pidcock will sit out the cyclocross season this winter as he gears up for a debut road campaign with his new team, Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

In early November Pidcock did not rule out the possibility of pinning on a race number over December and into January but has now confirmed he will not feature. Meanwhile, fellow former world champion Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) will race at least six times, with the final member of the 'big three', Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) riding 11 races.

Pidcock signed for Q36.5 earlier this month after leaving Ineos Grenadiers by mutual consent. To enable him to fully prepare for his first outing with the Swiss team he will not get muddy over the Christmas period.

Writing on Instagram, Pidcock confirmed that he has not ditched the discipline for good and will return to the field in the latter half of next year. Pidcock raced eight times last season, winning once.

"On Sunday I watched my first cyclocross of this season and it reminded me I should probably officially mention that this year, I will not race cyclocross," Pidcock wrote. "With a lot of change I want to make sure I have the time to settle into a new environment to get to know my new team and teammates well. But so far my plan will be to return to the field next year."

His announcement also means that next year’s World Championships will definitely feature just one of the cyclocross "big-three", Van der Poel. The Dutchman begins his season on Sunday as he builds towards the World Championships in Liévin, France, on 2 February.

Van Aert’s schedule has been reduced to enable him to compete for fitness purposes more than anything as he rebuilds his strength after crashing out of the Vuelta a España in the summer and suffering a serious knee injury. He took to the CX field nine times last season.

The Belgian will race for the first time on 23 December against Van der Poel in Mol, Belgium before wrapping up his brief campaign against his longstanding rival on 25 January in Massmechelen.

"Cyclocross remains my first love, which is why I enjoy returning to it every winter," Van Aert said. "This winter, we’ve opted for a compact schedule of six races that fit well into my training plan. It will be a cyclocross season I approach purely out of love for the sport, but with modest ambitions.

"After my crash in the Vuelta and my knee injury, it’s essential to make the best use of the time I have to prepare for the road season. A few cyclocross races fit nicely into that plan, but the schedule is deliberately more limited than in previous years."

Alongside the races in Mol and Maasmechelen, Van Aert will compete in events in Loenhout, Gullegem, Dendermonde and Benidorm. His reduced schedule means that he will come up against Van der Poel on just four occasions this season, including in just two UCI World Cup rounds.

Mathieu van der Poel vs Wout van Aert 2024/25 cyclocross schedule

The start date of Wout van Aert’s cyclo-cross campaign is still up in the air due to the after effects of the serious knee injury he suffered in September.

Van Aert crashed on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España on a wet descent and abandoned moments later. His Visma-Lease a Bike team later announced that the 29-year-old Belgian had suffered what was described as a "serious" knee injury which would require a combination of "intensive care" and antibiotics. Blood visibly streamed from his knee as he was attended to by Visma staff in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

Visma-Lease a Bike later said that the Belgian’s road season was over for the year and that he would not race again in 2024. It was expected that Van Aert would subsequently not race cyclo-cross until the end of December at the earliest as his recovery continues, although it appears that has now been delayed further with the news that he is still struggling to run. However, he is very much able to cycle, racking up the miles during his road off-season.

As well as on bike training, Belgian outlet Het Laatste Nieuws reported that Van Aert will undertake a combination of different running exercises while at a team training camp in a bid to further strengthen his knee ahead of his CX bow. The team training camp runs until 19 December and the initial hope was that he could ride cyclo-cross soon after.

Van Aert is a three-time CX world champion, although the last of these came in 2018. Last season he won three times in nine races.

Cycling Weekly contacted Visma-Lease a Bike to ask about Van Aert’s recovery and to confirm when he is now expected to begin his winter racing schedule.

Tom Pidcock, another former cyclo-cross world champion, recently refused to commit to racing CX whatsoever this winter. The 25-year-old competed in eight CX races last season, winning one in Namur, but suggested he might not line up at any races whatsoever during this season.

"At the moment no, but possibly," he said when asked if he had any CX plans in the making.

He added: "It has been a long year, I needed a proper break away from everything, but there's a possibility I'll do some races over Christmas and the new year. We can figure out that later."

Pidcock and Van Aert are considered two of the cyclo-cross big three, the other being Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman has won the CX world title for the last two seasons.

Van der Poel’s team have remained silent so far on whether he is likely to appear at any cross races this winter. According to HLN, it is likely that the Dutchman will race some events with an announcement expected to come this week.

Van der Poel was the only one of the 'big three' that lined up at the last worlds in Tábor in the Czech Republic. In the absence of the other two, Joris Nieuwenhuis of the Netherlands and Belgium’s Michael Vanthourenhout took second and third respectively.

If you saw a goat trapped in a well, would you jump in and save it? That was the conundrum Demi Vollering faced earlier this week when, on holiday in the Greek islands, she stumbled upon an animal in need.

Now, we all know the 27-year-old is a great bike racer, one of the best in the world. She’s also an adept florist, having worked as one for several years. But what are her animal rescue skills like? The answer, it turns out, are extraordinarily good.

In a video posted on her Instagram, complete with audio commentary and English captions, Vollering hops into the well and confidently seizes the goat. What follows is a remarkable feat of efficiency. Dressed head to toe in Nike sports gear, courtesy of her personal sponsorship deal, she lifts the animal above her head and places it on the sunbathed rocks.

The whole action, from the moment her feet touch the floor of the well, to the goat’s sweet liberation, lasts six seconds – yes, I timed it. “For a second, I thought he would die,” Vollering wrote. “Luckily he got up quickly and ran away to his friends.”

The ordeal, she added, was “very disgusting”. To save the goat, she had to plunge herself into a pit of flies, dust, and carcass remains of other animals, those not lucky enough to be discovered by a pro cyclist. And yet, despite it all, she waited and watched, to ensure her new friend was safe at last.

This is just one of the happenings in what has been a big week for Vollering. Prior to her animal rescue, the Dutchwoman was officially announced as an FDJ-Suez rider, in a musical reel of Hollywood-level production.

Sadly though, piano playing is not among her arsenal of talents. It is with no pride that we reveal that Vollering did not record the piano segments in her unveiling video, instead pretending to tickle the keys in the montage. We’ll forgive that, though. But had she not saved an animal’s life this week, perhaps we would have gone in harder there.

Elsewhere on social media, the cycling season has ended and given way to silly season; Wout van Aert – the same one returning from a knee injury – has been singing and dancing on national television dressed as a squirrel, and Mark Cavendish has swapped his bike for aikido robes in Japan. You've got to see it to believe it.

1. Long live Demi Vollering, goat saviour

2. The Dutchwoman is a person of many talents, but piano playing isn't one of them

3. For those in need of evidence, here is the proof that Vollering's no Elton John

4. Wout van Aert appeared on The Masked Singer in Belgium last weekend. Could you imagine a high-profile rider like Geraint Thomas doing the same in the UK? Yes, actually, you probably could

5. From saving them, to dressing up as them, to racing against them, it's a real animal appreciation theme here on World Vegan Day

6. Mathieu van der Poel is fed up of competing against mortals, so he's taking on supercars instead

7. You don't need 20:20 vision to read what it says on this bike's top tube

8. Rodri may have won the Ballon d'Or, but I'd like to see him navigate a tricky sprint finish into Torino

9. Remco Evenepoel everybody, double Olympic champion, and expert tea pourer

10. The spookiest thing about Ineos Grenadiers' Halloween edits is the absence of Tom Pidcock

11. Sweets are temporary, bike maintenance can last forever

12. Flick through to the second picture here to see Pfeiffer Georgi's mummy costume for Halloween (get well soon, Pfeiffer!)

13. Are there any aikido records Mark Cavendish can now go after?

14. And finally, here's Lotte Kopecky, enjoying what is clearly a calm and relaxing off-season in South Africa