the thunderous comeback of Wout Van Aert

Advantage Wout Van Aert. Imperial Sunday and Monday, the Belgian Jumbo-Visma confirmed his brilliant winter form by winning his fifth cyclo-cross in a row. After winning the boss on the muddy turnstile in Dendermonde on Sunday, the 27-year-old versatile rider did it again this Monday in Zolder, still on his home soil, again crushing all the competition on the penultimate round of the Superprestige.

A return to leading competition for the one who has shone all year on the roads with the colors of the Jumbo-Visma, winning in passing three stages of the Tour de France, including that of Ventoux and the finish on the Champs -Elysées. A remarkable triptych and a versatility further illustrated in this return to cyclo-cross, where the current king of the undergrowth has won each of the races in which he has lined up since his return to competition on December 4.

Van der Poel in reprise, Pidcock in retreat

A discipline that the three-time world champion (2016, 2017, 2018) still likes as much, despite a career now focused on the road, much more lucrative and publicized. “The Christmas period is ideal for taking part in various cyclo-cross races. I love the atmosphere around this sport and it was a real disappointment that the public was not allowed today», Noted the winner in Dendermonde on Sunday. An absence of the public which is obviously lacking in this sport with its generally supercharged atmospheres, but which did not prevent the person concerned from delivering a first recital.

Read alsoPogacar, Alaphilippe, Van Aert … Our cycling season notebook

Less well off than Mathieu Van der Poel and the tenacious Toon Aerts, Van Aert joined the lead before engaging in a nice mano a mano duel with his main rival then finally taking the lead alone three laps from the finish, to finish with 45 seconds ahead of Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). Touched in training in December, the reigning world champion was expected for his return, where he did not disappoint despite his second place. “Wout Van Aert’s form is impressive, remarked the Dutchman even before the race on Sunday. I don’t know if I have the legs to follow him.This Monday, the report was relentless since the person concerned, victim of a fall, finally had to give up after being quickly released. For his part, the third headliner from the road, the Briton Tom Picdock (Ineos Grenadiers), was reassured Monday with a second place (1’04 from the winner) after a more disappointing 8th place in Dendermonde, where he was never involved.

Eyes on the Worlds in a month

Here is an X-ray as simple as it is predictable, now one month before the world championships, the real objective of the season for the superstars of the discipline. If none has yet confirmed its presence in Fayetteville (United States) on January 29, their participation is however hardly in doubt, in particular the two eternal rivals Van Aert and Van der Poel, whose teams are regularly disposed to grant them to fight in the undergrowth. And the last city, now quadruple world champion of the discipline after his third coronation in a row (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021) intends to keep his iridescent jersey and thus prevent the Belgian from returning to four titles everywhere.

But for now, it is therefore the Belgian who has a clear advantage, both physical and psychological, over the grandson of Raymond Poulidor. With his two new recitals far ahead of World Cup leaders such Eli Iserbyt (3rd in Zolder) or Toon Aerts (3rd in Dendermonde), Van Aert, like his fellow road stars, shows that he does not has no mercy on the competition, however specialist it may be. Without confirming his presence in Arkansas in a month, the Belgian sportsman of the year has delivered that he still maintains the same appetite at the microphone of the RTBF this Monday : “the rest of the program will be busy, I still gave a lot yesterday and today, but each time I start a cross country it’s to win it, it has always been like that and it does not work. not change.»