Wout van Aert already back at altitude with pre-Suisse gravel training

Wout van Aert is not slowing down in his preparations for the Tour de France. Just a few days after a long training camp up in the Sierra Nevada, the Belgian has travelled to Switzerland for another round at altitude. 

After impressing at the Critérium du Dauphiné in recent years, Van Aert will switch to the Tour de Suisse this year as his pre-Tour race outing, the eight-stage race taking place the week after the Dauphiné and starting on June 11.

The Belgian has travelled to Switzerland early, clocking a ride on his gravel bike in the Alps on Thursday afternoon. 

According to the file named 'Oops forgot to bring my road bike' he uploaded to his Strava account, he started and finished the ride part-way up the Bernina Pass, at an altitude of 2,000 metres above sea level. 

Van Aert started his ride by descending into the valley and then climbing high into the ski slops above St Moritz, reaching 2,500 metres, before descending and riding the gravel tracks along the shores of Lake Silvaplana. 

He then continued the off-road pursuit with a short trip up and down the Roseg valley, before making his way up the Bernina Pass and looping back to Diavolezza on the Swiss-Italian border, where he's staying.

The ride took place in the vicinity of the hardest stages of this year's Tour de Suisse, just a stone's throw from the crucial queen stage that finishes in La Punt. 

Van Aert only returned home from the Sierra Nevada on May 28, having stayed in the Spanish mountain range with his Tour de France-bound teammates since June 9, racking up plenty of kilometres up to 3000 metres of altitude.  

Van Aert has been a restless presence this year. Barely a week after Paris-Roubaix, which ended with a heartbreaking puncture, he used his post-spring time off for a multi-day bikepacking trip.

According to Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, Van Aert is in Switzerland alongside Wilco Kelderman and a couple of support staff from Jumbo-Visma, opting to top-up on altitude already given there's no time after the Tour de Suisse. Jonas Vingegaard and the Dauphiné riders, meanwhile, will likely complete a short final pre-Tour camp after that race. 

After racing the Tour de Suisse, which features two time trials as well as some high mountains, Van Aert may elect to race the time trial at the Belgian national championships on June 22, the weekend before the start of the Tour de France in the Basque Country.