“There is no reason to worry about Wout van Aert” – Johan Bruyneel expects Visma star will peak for Tour of Flanders

Wout van Aert made his return to the road on Monday at the 2025 Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior. This came after a cyclocross season that was drastically cut short. Despite the fact that Van Aert appeared to have strong legs at the Cyclocross World Championships, where he ended in second place, this form did not instantly translate to success on the road, as he finished in 39th place in Spain, six minutes behind the winner.

Following the event, the sports director of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Arthur van Dongen, stated that they had not been satisfied with the performance of the Belgian. “We certainly expected more,” the DS acknowledged in an open and honest manner in a chat with Het Nieuwsblad after the race. “We did not travel here for such a result.” Despite this, Visma and Van Aert fans shouldn’t be too disheartened by the poor start to the road campaign for the 30-year-old, according to Johan Bruyneel, who was the former manager of the squad. “There is no reason to worry about Van Aert,” the Belgian says on his podcast, The Move. “There is no reason to bother.” Recently, he completed a training camp in the island of Mallorca. Exactly how he trained there is something I am not aware of. It would be reasonable to anticipate that he would strive for victory in Jaén; nevertheless, those individuals are not machines either.

“After the first race, it is not possible to draw conclusions that are far-reaching. Perhaps it was a rough night for him? Bruyneel continues by saying, “There is always the possibility of something happening.” He is adamant that Van Aert will be reaching his ideal level of performance in order to score the major goals later in the spring. It’s possible that I’m protecting my fellow countryman a little bit, but I’m positive that he’ll be there in April. Do you agree that it will be quite some time until the Tour of Flanders takes place? The men who are interested in winning there are not yet in their best form.

By the time the race was over, Van Aert had a realistic assessment of his own performance. “I didn’t have the best legs and was quickly on the limit a few times in the final,” he said in an honest manner. “I’m not a horrible person by any stretch of the imagination, but I had the impression that I wouldn’t be successful… As he came to a conclusion, he stated, “It’s not a bad start, but it was a tough race.”