Van Aert: We'll start Omloop with ambition but not with a knife to our throat

Wout van Aert will make his road season debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, keen to take on the combined might of QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, Tom Pidcock and his other Classics rivals, yet without the pressure to win and to be at his very best for far bigger goals in March and April. The Opening Weekend race is more a test for his reinforced Classics team.

The Jumbo-Visma team leader is hungry for success but is also focused on being at his best from Milan-San Remo on March 19 until Paris-Roubaix on April 17 — a month packed with major classics and major goals.

"My goals are later in the spring, hence the conscious choice to build a really broad base. Hopefully, I'll have some extra explosiveness after the first races, so that I’m at my best for Milan-San Remo, then I want to extend that form to Paris-Roubaix," Van Aert explained to Wielerflits in a long interview. 

"I think the guys who already have two short stage races in their legs will have a little advantage in the opening weekend. The effect of my altitude camp will come a little later and should give us that little bit extra in March-April. 

"Omloop is more of a test for us to see how we can race together as a team. Of course, we want to achieve a result. We’ll start Omloop with ambition but absolutely not with a knife to our throat. 

"Omloop is also a special race. Last year a large group came together for the finish. If that’s also the case this year, then I assume that we'll still be there with a number of guys and we’ll still be able to take a shot at winning.

"If it turns into a battlefield, we might be just that little bit short.”

A strengthened Jumbo-Visma Classics squad

Van Aert has only recently returned to Belgium from a three-week altitude camp on Mount Teide on the Spanish island of Tenerife, with his Classics teammates, plus Primož Roglič, Rohan Dennis, Steven Kruijswijk and Jonas Vingegaard, who come together in July to form the core of Jumbo-Visma’s Tour de France squad. 

Jumbo-Visma have strengthened their Classic group to better support Van Aert in the Classics. He is aggressive and a fast finisher but still needs support in numbers to respond to the different tactics of Ineos Grenadiers and especially QuickStep–AlphaVinyl. 

Van Aert’s group now includes Tosh Van Der Sande, Tiesj Benoot who left Team DSM to join Jumbo-Visma, loyal domestique Nathan Van Hooydonck, fast finisher Mike Teunissen and Frenchman Christophe Laporte, who joined from Cofidis. They should be a force to reckon with. 

“It should no longer happen that I’m alone in the run-up to the final. I believe that will no longer be the case,” Van Aert said, keen to inspire his teammates. 

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve worked on and off the bike. We now form a close-knit group, tactics have been thought through, races from previous years have been reviewed and analysed. It’s about more than attracting some good riders to the team.”

Jumbo-Visma will carry out their final reconnaissance of the slightly revised Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race route on Friday, just 24 hours before the race. He will only ride Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, skipping Sunday’s Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and then racing again at Paris-Nice which starts on Sunday, March 6.

Building form from his successful cyclo-cross campaign

Van Aert enjoyed a successful if short cyclo-cross campaign in December and during the Christmas holidays, winning nine races in the mud, but then opting to miss the World Championships in the USA, so he could rest up and prepare well for the 2022 road race season. 

While some riders have been hampered by COVID-29 infections and injury, he appears to have enjoyed a near-perfect block of winter preparation.  

“Everyone could see how smoothly it went while racing in December and early January and everything went as planned after that,” he said with confidence. 

“Things seemed to go wrong for a while when our training camp in Alicante was interrupted by a coronavirus infection but I was still able to work well. After some time at home I started real preparation on February 1 in Tenerife.”

Van Aert and his teammates appear to have avoided catching COVID-19, even though the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Alberto Bettiol had to isolate while at the Hotel Parador near the summit of Mount Teide.  

“Touch wood we have been spared for the time being,” Van Aart said of the virus. 

“If you arrive healthy and negative, the chances that you will be infected are relatively small. We had no contact with the tourists, our part of the restaurant was well protected. And besides cycling, eating and lying in bed, we don't do much. We live safer up there than anywhere else.”

Van Aert laid down the foundations to his season in December, used his cyclo-cross campaign to give him some speed, power and acceleration and has now added more hours in the saddle with more intensity work, all at altitude. 

“Usually you first try to build your base as wide as possible and gradually increase the intensity from January. However, because of cyclocross, that intensity comes a bit faster for me and I have to be especially careful to avoid being in shape too quickly with a base that is too narrow,” van Aert explained. 

“That’s why I focused on endurance training and only a little more sprint work during the training camp in Alicante in January. We avoided that kind of work in Tenerife and put in a lot more hours. As a result, I’ll start with a much better base condition.” 

“It also provided a big mental benefit; I was able to train very relaxed. In the past few years, there was usually a race against time to be ready. Last year I fought for two weeks in Tenerife to get that good feeling and I only succeeded at the last minute. This time it all went much smoother. And hopefully, at the end of the spring, my form will be that bit less unpredictable.”

Van Aert insists he has learnt the lessons from 2021 when he went too deep at the Tour of Britain and then suffered a bad day when it really mattered at the World Championships in Belgium. 

“I wasted a lot of energy at the Tour of Britain. I will certainly take that lesson with me going forward,” he admitted.

“Physically I was still okay in Paris-Roubaix. But I paid the toll of a long season where I was trying to peak for every big race. That is why I now have a different preparation. With the intention of being at my best only from Milan-San Remo.”

That is why van Aert won’t ride next Saturday’s Strade Bianche, try to win the overall classification at Paris-Nice and only ride Milan-San Remo, E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields, the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Roubaix. 

“In a short period of time like the spring, you have to grab what you can. I want to help the team, also go full in the time trial and also go for a stage win, but not every day. I’ve got to dose my energy, occasionally saving something when I can so I’m not at a disadvantage when the big races come,” he explained.

While his rivals have been racing, van Aert has been keeping track of their progress, watching races while recovering from his long rides atop Mount Teide. He knows who to watch at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but like everyone, is unsure of their true form.

“The Classics riders have been quite spread out, which makes it difficult to guess their true form,” he suggested. “But Bryan Coquard caught my eye. QuickStep-AlphaVinyl have started the season well and Yves Lampaert gave a good impression. 

“But we don't see everything on TV. For example, what have Oliver Naesen and Greg Van Avermaet already done in races before we see the final? We’ll all be wiser after the weekend.”