“What would you say?” asks Wout van Aert, who laughs at “made-up” terms and displays ambition.

is set to begin his road season in 2025. Two weeks after placing second in the cyclo-cross World Championships, the Belgian will face this task in the Clasica Jaén gravel event in Spain. In order to reach his major spring targets of Flanders and Roubaix, he will first go via the Algarve to the opening weekend. Van Aert spent a lot of time anticipating his road season on the media day for his team, Visma | Lease a Bike.

Van Aert should be able to put the troubled 2024 season behind him as he kicks off the Clasica Jaén in Spain on Monday. He had previously lost several months of cycling following that horrific incident in Dwars door Vlaanderen, and that concluded in a crash in September. “I manage to get on my bike without any lingering issues, but it has cost me a lot of time this winter,” he candidly states.

“It’s on my mind much more than it used to be, but that’s also because you have a completely different life now than when you were 20,” says the Belgian. “I would be sad if I lost the courage to plunge down a descent since I love road riding and want to win. It used to be thrilling to dive downward, but these days it’s more of a requirement for my profession. I too attempted to take a KOM in a descent when I was eighteen. I also wouldn’t do that right now.