Wout van Aert wins Belgian time trial title
Jumbo-Visma rider beats Campenaerts and Frison
Wout van Aert (opens in new tab)continued his stunning form of the season restart to defend his Belgian time trial title (opens in new tab) in Koksijde.
The 25-year-old Jumbo-Visma (opens in new tab) rider now has four wins for the season and will wear the Belgian tricolor for another year.
Van Aert beat World Hour Record holder Victor Campenaerts (NTT Pro Cycling) by 30 seconds over the 41.6km course, with Frederik Frison (Lotto Soudal) taking third with a time of 1:17.
"It was a mental advantage to start as the top favourite but you still have to finish it," said Van Aert after the race. "It wasn't easy.
"My plan was to have something left in the last lap, but in the end I was riding on character. Luckily with my fast start, I already had a lead.
"Of course you'd rather win with everyone present," he added, referring to the absent Remco Evenepoel. "But beating Victor is also beautiful."
Like Lotte Kopecky in the women's time trial on Thursday morning, Van Aert was in control of proceedings throughout the race, setting the fastest time at the first checkpoint on the course, situated in Koksijde's military base.
Campenaerts, in only his second race since the season restart, was 15 seconds down at the first check and couldn't recover over the rest of the course, shedding a further 11 seconds at the second checkpoint and 4 more by the finish.
Thomas De Gendt, another top time trialist hailing from the country, took his fourth fourth place at the event, fading after a strong start to finish 25 seconds down on his teammate in third. Frison had set the early running during the race, putting 40 seconds into another Lotto Soudal rider, Florian Vermeersch.
While Frison's effort was a strong one, the expectation was that Campenaerts and Van Aert would beat it, and so it played out on the pan-flat course.
Van Aert will now head to the Tour de France as domestique for GC contenders Primož Roglič and Tom Dumoulin, while also having his own chances.
Campenaerts, meanwhile, will look to continue Belgium's winning run at the European Championships next week. He won the title himself in 2017 and 2018.
The Belgian National Championships are split up this year, with the time trials held on August 20 while the road races will be held in Anzegem on September 22.
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo - Visma | 0:50:10 |
2 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling | 0:00:30 |
3 | Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:17 |
4 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:42 |
5 | Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:58 |
6 | Guillaume Seye (Bel) Beat Cycling Club | 0:02:42 |
7 | Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin - Fenix | 0:03:24 |
8 | Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:03:28 |
9 | Jasper De Plus (Bel) Circus - Wanty Gobert | 0:03:29 |
10 | Fabio Van den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:03:42 |
11 | Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin - Fenix | 0:03:43 |
12 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus - Wanty Gobert | 0:03:50 |
13 | Sasha Weemaes (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:06:13 |
14 | Julien Van den Brande (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex | 0:06:21 |

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips.
Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.
As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Daniel also runs The Leadout newsletter and oversees How to Watch guides throughout the season. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for signing up to The Pick. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Judgement comes early for Alaphilippe and Soudal-QuickStep at Dwars door Vlaanderen
Ronde hopes rest on double world champion's recovery from E3 Saxo Classic illness -
Biniam Girmay blames poor Gent-Wevelgem on forgetting to eat
2022 winner will make Tour of Flanders debut on his 23rd birthday -
How to watch Dwars door Vlaanderen – live streaming
All the streaming information for the last cobbled tune-up before the Tour of Flanders -
Cytronex electric bike conversion kit review: Engineering done right
We took the Cytronex-converted titanium Brompton T-Line to task, and it delivered