Wout van Aert has confirmed he will take a different approach to the Classics in 2024, opting for a three-week altitude camp before his next appearance at E3 Saxo Classic on March 22, so he can peak for Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
The Belgian is opting for a lengthy altitude camp instead of racing at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico. He is confident the thin air and hard training will be the key to scoring his second Monument.
Van Aert made an impressive start to the season with a dominant display at Opening Weekend, taking third at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then winning in Kuurne-Brussel-Buurne, but is willing to sacrifice potential success in the two Italian Spring Classics in pursuit of capturing either of Roubaix or Flanders.
“The peloton gets stronger every year. So every year you have to be better than the year before to compete for the prizes,” said Van Aert to HLN after his success at the weekend.
“Always staying in the comfort zone is the easiest thing, but the reality is that I haven’t won the Ronde and Roubaix yet.
“That may not always have had to do with myself, but I did have the feeling that I could be even better during those two weekends than was the case in previous years.”
Van Aert is travelling today to Tenerife to train at 2.315 metres above sea level on Mount Teide alongside Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Jan Tratnik, Per Strand Hagenes and key domestique for the Classics – Tiesj Benoot.
“Call it a small calculated risk. Thinking a bit out of the box,” said Benoot to the Flemish newspaper.
“If you go on an altitude training camp in February, you will return very well for the opening weekend and Strade Bianche, but the Tour of Flanders will follow more than a month later.
“By then, the effect of that altitude stimulus in February will still be minimal. I firmly believe in this approach, but you have to sacrifice other courses for something you are not actually sure about because it is a step into the unknown, no matter how logical it sounds.”
It’s the first time since 2017, when he was still on ProTeam Vérandas Willems-Crelan, that Van Aert won’t race either Strade Bianche or Milan-San Remo.
The decision to skip them has been made easier by the fact that he won both races in 2020 when he made a flying start to his second season with the then-Jumbo-Visma team. He’ll watch on slightly hurt to not be on the start line but addressed that the bigger goals are more important.
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