Cyclist Wout van Aert opts out of World Championships, concludes season in September
Wout van Aert, the cycling sensation from Belgium, has announced that he will be ending his 2021 season after the Super 8 Classic, skipping both the World Championships and European Championships.
Van Aert, a member of Visma-Lease a Bike team, has had a packed season so far. He participated in four rounds of the cyclo-cross World Cup at the start of the year, placing second at the World Championships.
Despite his busy schedule, Van Aert has managed to compete in two Grand Tours, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, where he won a stage at both. He has also raced 56 days on the road this season.
The Belgian rider has set important goals for the last part of the season, but has decided to focus on his recovery and preparation for next year.
In the absence of Van Aert, the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, scheduled for 21-28 September, will be missing one of its main contenders. The elite men's race will cover a 267.5km course with 5,475m of elevation gain, and the time trial for the elite men will be a 40.6km race with 680m of climbing.
Last year, Van Aert missed the UCI Road World Championships due to a knee injury. In 2020, he placed second in both the road race and individual time trial at the Worlds. In 2022, he was second in the individual time trial at the World Championships held in his native Belgium.
It is worth noting that Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, the recent Tour de France winner, is expected to defend his road race title at the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda. However, Pogacar was not among the top competitors in the 2021 World Championships, according to available sources.
The official start list for the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda has not been confirmed yet.
After the Super 8 Classic, Van Aert will compete at four more races this year: the Deutschland Tour, Bretagne Classic-Ouest de France, GP de Québec, GP de Montréal, and the Flemish one-day race.
[1] Source: UCI World Championships archives and event start lists from 2021.
Sports enthusiasts will miss Wout van Aert's participation in the UCI Road World Championships due to his decision to focus on recovery and preparation for next year, having concluded his jam-packed 2021 season after the Super 8 Classic. Despite Van Aert's absence, the elite men's race and time trial at the Worlds in Rwanda will proceed as scheduled with challenging courses.
