Wout van Aert getting back into form

Wout van Aert has spent the past weeks on Tenerife to prepare for the spring classics. “Wout’s level is better. Much better ”, says Merijn Zeeman, sports director at Jumbo-Visma, in conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws. “But he won’t be top shape for Strade Bianche yet.”

Wout van Aert getting back into form

A few weeks ago, Het Laatste Nieuws wrote about Van Aert and his training camp in Tenerife. Marc Lamberts, performance coach at Jumbo-Visma and Van Aert’s personal trainer, explained how his pupil still had some work to do. Van Aert was still two kilos too heavy in mid-February, as he had created quite a bit of muscle mass during the cyclocross winter.

“Those excess kilos have now been eliminated”, Zeeman now says. “Wout has worked very hard. He put a lot of energy into the training. I can only say that we are very satisfied. His trainer Marc is also very happy with the results.

Zeeman saw van Aert break a lot of records on the training app Strava. In recent weeks, the Belgian classic specialist has set no less than fourteen records on and especially around Teide, the well-known training volcano on Tenerife.

Van Aert often did this on climbs of three to four kilometres. “You have to put it into perspective. It is primarily a game. They are just training figures. But at the same time: you don’t break records if you are not good.”

So we can expect something from Van Aert in Strade Bianche next Saturday, where he will defend his title? Zeeman says patience is needed.

“Wout has to recover from this training camp. In Strade Bianche, he will not be at his best yet because he also needs some racing and that ‘race rhythm’ to achieve those last percentages in his form. It will be different in Milan-San Remo and he will be completely ready for the Flemish classics.”

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