Wout van Aert has returned to the site of his horror crash from Dwars door Vlaanderen last season, where he was left screaming in agony as his Classics season came to a painful end.
The Belgian was part of a large Visma-Lease a Bike group that explored the Flemish hills and cobbled roads he knows so well on a 97km route starting and finishing in Oudenaarde the finish location of the Tour of Flanders.
Throughout the ride, which Van Aert captioned "The everything-that-is-beautiful route" on his Strava, he and his teammates took in famous bergs such as the Wolvenberg, Molenberg, Valkenberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg.
However, it's the run into the Kanarieberg which stood out on Visma's route, as the sweeping, fast road that precedes the climb's start, the N48 (Ninoofsesteenweg), is where Van Aert crashed hard in March and broke his collarbone and ribs.
It was a typically wet Flandrien day on the cobbles and a "Kick off" to the 2025 Classics for Van Aert, who will be hoping for better luck come next spring and a cleaner run at both De Ronde and Paris-Roubaix, two huge races he has been a runner-up at but never won.
However, he did refind his best legs at a Vuelta a España debut late in the season, before he then crashed again and injured his new, ruling him out of the World Championships in Zürich.
