Will Wout van Aert Wow in Cyclocross for 2024-2025?

Wout Van Aert is one of the most popular cyclists in the world. But his results on this year’s road racing schedule weren’t the best, and the Belgian is looking for redemption in 2025. Is cyclocross part of the answer? Here’s what Wout will do off-road this winter — and why he should shift his focus to prioritize cyclocross in the future.

After a disappointing 2024 road season, cyclocross offers a chance for redemption.

Wout van Aert’s season started off rocky… and it didn’t really get better from there.

The Belgian entered 2024 with high hopes. As in 2023, he planned to prioritize the cobbled classics in hope of securing some victories early in the season. Paris-Roubaix has often been something of a “white whale” for Van Aert. Those who follow his career closely probably weren’t too surprised when he indicated that the cobbled Monument was the main priority for his early season.

But disappointment struck right away in the classics. He nabbed a few top-threes right away in his home country, including a win at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Then a big crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen put him out of commission entirely until the end of May. This meant that Van Aert was not able to compete in Paris-Roubaix and had to give up on the remainder of his classics campaign. Undeterred, he went to the Tour de France, but did not manage to win any stages. The Olympics in Paris ended on an equally disappointing note.

Read more: 22 Photos (and Stories) from the 2024 Tour de France

A late-season turnaround cut short

At this point, it felt that Van Aert may not find any big successes for 2024’s road season. But there were still a few glimmers of hope around the corner.

Things were looking up in the 2024 Vuelta a España. Van Aert was performing well after winning three stages. Sadly, this late-season return to his best form was cut too short by an accident on Stage 16 of the race. Vuelta viewers will remember the sad scenes of Van Aert by the side of the road, making the decision to abandon the race while wearing the green jersey. Leaving La Vuelta meant not only losing the chance to win more stages, but also to win the Point Classification in the overall race.

Will cyclocross patch things up for Van Aert?

Whether cyclocross can make up for the other disappointments of 2024 for Van Aert is an open question. However, the Belgian rider will try to make the most of the winter months with a relatively full cyclocross schedule.

After the Vuelta crash, Van Aert’s fitness may not be at its peak. However, he resumed training on the road towards the beginning of October, poising himself for a comeback to his best form. He is currently in the midst of a two-and-a-half week training period in Spain according to coaching staff.

His cyclocross season is planned to start in mid-December. This timing allows him to attend Visma Lease-a-Bikes first winter training camp, which runs through December 19th. VLAB’s team presentation also occurs in conjunction with this event, meaning that Van Aert is likely to make an appearance in the presentation as well.

Wout van Aert’s 2024-2025 cyclocross schedule

How many races will Wout ride off-road this year? While we don’t know for certain the number of races Van Aert’s cyclocross calendar will include, it’s likely he’ll join in quite a few of the later contests across all of the major cyclocross series. This includes Exact, Superprestige, and X2O races. Some potential early additions to his schedule include UCI World Cup races in Hulst and Zonhoven on the 21st and 22nd of December respectively. However, it’s also possible that Van Aert may wait until after Christmas to hit the cyclocross course. We hope he’ll give his fans some much-needed post-holiday entertainment as the winter months set in.

Rivalry: Van Aert versus van der Poel rivalry goes back off road.

Many cyclocross fans look forward to the 1v1 battles between Van Aert and his main rival, the Dutch all-rounder Mathieu van der Poel. We’ll have to wait and see whether we can watch any match-ups between these two in the 2024-2025 cyclocross season.

For van der Poel, the 2024 road season was marked by many successes. He was the reigning World Champion for most of the road season, notching road victories in the Belgian classics. However, a comparatively lukewarm Tour de France and slow end to the road season seems prime for van der Poel to return to off-road racing in the winter.

In a recent interview, van der Poel was hesitant to commit to a cyclocross schedule, saying that he would decide after his post-season vacation. It’s likely that he will ride at least some races, since a seventh consecutive World Championship title in 2025 cyclocross would be record-breaking.

Van Aert, on the other hand, hasn’t won a World Championship in cyclocross since 2018. Coincidentally, it was also the first year that the Belgian focused more on his road campaign rather than cyclocross as he had done in years past. This shift in priorities has been a defining facet of Van Aert’s career so far.

Tom Pidcock’s cyclocross return might fix things for him, too

What about the rest of the field? Van Aert may not be the only rider seeking a new chance in cyclocross this winter. Tom Pidcock, the third member of cyclocross’s “big three,” is likely to appear in at least a few off-road races this season. The British star has been troubled in recent days by some transfer drama. He’ll be staying with Ineos Grenadiers for the 2025 road season despite his contentious relationship with the team. In the meantime, we’ll wait to see whether he makes an appearance in the world of cyclocross as December draws closer.

Read more: Tour Disappointments: 5 Riders with Something Left to Prove

Should expectations for Van Aert and the “big three” remain moderate?

From a certain perspective, Van Aert would be wise to focus on cyclocross at this stage of his career. As a powerful all-around rider who can really ‘do it all,’ he’s still found his most compelling victories in the mud. VLAB relies on him as a “superdomestique” for the Tour de France, but his opportunities for personal success in that arena are more limited. And his penchant for second place finishes, which have become something of a meme at this point, are in spite of the strong classics team built around him and his chances for sprint and breakaway victories in the Grand Tours.

Expectations remain cool for Van Aert’s commitment to 2024-2025 cyclocross — and his chances for victory. The Belgian is more likely to use cyclocross just to prepare for the spring classics, which will again be his main priority for the 2025 road season. Matheiu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, if they end up racing in the mud this season, will probably arrive with a similar perspective.

But should they? And should Wout start focusing on cyclocross again?

Wout Van Aert’s fans want to see him return to his best days on the bike. During his most dominant years, it would have been difficult to argue that he was the best cyclocross rider in the world. But since his transition to road racing, van der Poel has outpaced him in many respects. Could it be time to shift his focus back to the discipline where he excels the most and stop treating cyclocross as an afterthought in his yearly program?

Whatever the case may be, we’ll be eagerly waiting to see Wout back in the mud for 2024-2025 cyclocross!

What do you think? Does Wout van Aert have a good cyclocross season ahead of him? And will it be enough to make up for his bad luck on the road this year? Let us know in the comments or on social media! ★