Wout van Aert has descended from Mount Teide, hoping that three weeks of intense altitude training will give him an advantage right from the start of his spring Classics campaign at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic on Friday, where he will clash with nemeses Mathieu van der Poel, Filippo Ganna and other Classics contenders.
Van der Poel did his spell at altitude in early March at the Syncrosfera hotel in Spain, polished his form at Tirreno-Adriatico and then beat Ganna and Tadej Pogačar to win Milan-San Remo. Van Aert has gone for a more selective and scientific approach. He missed Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo in the hope of finding a higher peak of form for the cobbles, only returning home to Belgium on Wednesday.
He and Visma-Lease a Bike teammates Wilco Kelderman and Tiesj Benoot clocked over 2,300km during the three weeks of carefully calculated training blocks, climbing 59,260 metres of elevation according to Van Aert's Strava data.
"We had a good and nice training camp in Tenerife, but of course, as a cyclist, what you want most of all is racing. I'm really looking forward to pinning on a race number once again,” Van Aert said in a statement issued via Visma-Lease a bike, fending off criticism of his absence from the March races.
"There's always a bit of a wait-and-see in such a first race after an altitude camp. You saw that last year in the E3 Saxo Classic as well. But we have a strong team, including Matteo Jorgenson who showed great things in Paris-Nice."
Van Aert will ride E3 Saxo Classic but not Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem, where sprinter Olav Kooij is Visma-Lease a Bike's leader. Van Aert is expected to ride Dwars door Vlaanderen next Wednesday before taking on Van der Poel and Pogačar at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike have taken a calculated risk by training at altitude rather than racing but believe in the logic of their plans.
"For Wout and for us, it is now a tried and tested recipe," the team's Head of Performance Mathieu Heijboer told Het Laatste Nieuws.
"He worked hard, but we know he can handle that load. An important condition for this success, and which we as a team always try to fulfil, is that everything is done right. Nutrition and recovery, for example, are crucial. Hence the presence of our own chef."
Van Aert followed a similar plan in 2024 and finished third at E3 Saxo Bank. He crashed on the Paterberg as van der Poel attacked and then chased hard, only to blow up in the final kilometres. Van Aert then crashed out at Dwars door Vlaanderen in the terrible high-speed crash that wrecked his spring campaign.
“That was when we first applied this approach. Unfortunately, we were unable to reap the benefits due to his heavy crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen. The only thing that remained and that Wout is now holding on to was the very good feeling after that training camp," Heijboer suggested.
"We will never know what it would have yielded in concrete terms. But he certainly did not forget it. It gave him the necessary motivation to do it again."
“Wout would have liked to ride Milan-San Remo but we are convinced that to get him in the best possible shape for the upcoming Classics and what follows, this is the path we have to take. Don't forget that there is also a Giro coming up shortly afterwards - as was also the intention in 2024. Then you inevitably have to make choices. Not so much with pleasure, but purposefully."
Van Aert started the 2025 season at the Clásica Jaén in Spain and then rode the Volta ao Algarve and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. He was not at his best after a winter of rehabilitation and gradual training following his Vuelta a Espana crash and knee injury but is confident a hard block of training will have a positive effect on his form.
He won the E3 Saxo Classic in 2022 and 2023, which is described as a mini Tour of Flanders due to its hilly race route.
"The E3 Saxo Classic is one of my favourite races and I am proud that I have already won it twice," van Aert said.
Van Aert and Jorgenson lead the seven-rider Visma-Lease a Bike line-up for E3 Saxo Classic, with support from Benoot, Tosh Van der Sande, Eduardo Affini, Dylan van Baarle and Per Strand Hagenes.
"We are not the favourites, but we have to make use of the multiple options we have in our team. We will do everything we can to be in the final with as many riders as possible," the team's Head of Racing Grischa Niermann said.
"The E3 Saxo Classic is a beautiful race over a large part of the Tour of Flanders course. Often the race is seen as a kind of dress rehearsal. For us, it will be interesting to see how Wout and Tiesj feel after their altitude camp."
Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike watched van der Poel and Pogačar clash at Milan-San Remo from Mount Teide. Van Aert is under pressure to be as strong and as successful but sees his rivals' racing as motivation.
“It mainly fueled his motivation," Heijboer claimed.
"It's a shame that he could not be part of it but it is not the case that he and the team are now suddenly going to think: 'Oh, we have absolutely no chance anymore'.”
"We acknowledge and respect that Pogačar and Van der Poel have already shown some very nice things. But we are not going to make ourselves smaller because of that. Wout himself is also just fine. We just have to wait and see how he will feel in that first race."
"Wout is not the top favourite for the victory. If Friday does not lead to what it should be, we will not lose any sleep over it because we are following a long-term plan. In which we work towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix and then the Giro d'Italia."
