After Paris Olympics, Wout van Aert confirms first-ever participation in Vuelta a España

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) has confirmed that he will make his debut in the Vuelta a España, which starts in Lisbon, Portugal, on August 17.

Van Aert had initially planned to race the Giro d’Italia for the first time this year, but after an extremely bad crash in the Spring Classics, that idea was scrapped and he instead opted to do the Tour de France.

On Saturday Van Aert played an instrumental support role for Belgian teammate and Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel after taking a bronze in the men’s time trial the week before. 

Evenepoel is expected to take several weeks off but Van Aert will soon be focussing again on Grand Tour stage racing.

“Holiday? No, in two weeks I will be at the start of the Vuelta” Van Aert, said in the ‘Paris by night’  Belgian television programme late on Saturday.

Van Aert rode for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France, with a certain amount of freedom to target stages and sprints. At the Vuelta a España, Van Aert will race alongside another defending champion, American teammate Sepp Kuss and perhaps having a very similar role.

Visma-Lease a Bike are expected to include Van Aert’s compatriot Cian Uijtdebroeks in their squad for the Vuelta. 

Uijtdebroeks had to to abandon the Giro d’Italia and like Van Aert will now likely be redirecting his focus on Grand Tour racing on Spain.

Van Aert’s end-of-season race programme will also contain the World Championships road race in Switzerland (September 29), followed by the Gravel World Championships (October 5) on home soil in Belgium.