A shaper outline of Wout van Aert’s 2023 schedule has now emerged as the Jumbo-Visma star confirmed this week that he will be focusing hard on the steadily shrinking handful of top Classics that still elude him.
Van Aert took a hugely impressive array of placings and victories in one-day races in 2022, including Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, as well as a second place in Paris-Roubaix and a third place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. This was despite catching COVID mid-way through the spring and missing out on the Tour of Flanders as a result.
He also placed 8th at Milan-San Remo in a season that featured nine victories, and a further 16 further podium placings and five top-10s.
Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix, neither of which Van Aert has won, are “obviously the big goals”, the Jumbo-Visma racer told reporters this week when discussing 2023.
“Maybe next year I will collect fewer top 10 places, but I will catch that big fish.”
The arrival of new signing Dylan van Baarle, who claimed Paris-Roubaix last year, will strengthen Jumbo-Visma in the Classics, but Van Aert brushed off the idea of any internal rivalry.
“It’s just important that someone from our team wins,” Van Aert argued. “That may sound a bit corny, but that’s just the way it is.
“A team can never be too strong and I am really looking forward to racing together with him. I think we are very complementary.”
Although there has been much speculation about whether Van Aert would do the Giro d’Italia, given its high time trialling content, the Belgian has also argued that the prospect of doing the Tour de France and World Championships next summer remains appealing.
“The Worlds will be only two weeks after the Tour next year, so that is a difficult combination, but it’s possible and has already been proven successful.”
Although Van Aert said he would like to try his luck in other three-week races one day, he added: “Winning a Tour [de France] stage never gets boring.”
It looks unlikely that Van Aert will defend his victory at the season opener, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in 2023, despite the fact that he and his teammates recently reconned the course. Apparently the Belgian will be training at altitude for most of February in the Canary Islands and could skip the season-opener next year.
“It’s too early to say, but my program could see me miss out on the Omloop,” Van Aert said. “The decision has yet to be made. A lot will also depend on the level I have at the Cyclocross World…
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