Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert (born 15 September 1994) is a Belgian professional road and cyclo-cross racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam.

Van Aert won three consecutive men's races at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

He started his career in cyclo-cross where he became World champion (2016, 2017, 2018) and Belgian champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022).

Over a two-year period with in 2017 and 2018, he took five victories, and also won a bronze medal at the 2018 European Road Cycling Championships in Glasgow, losing out to Matteo Trentin and Mathieu van der Poel in a sprint finish from a small group.

Having initially prioritised competing in cyclo-cross, Van Aert terminated his contract with in 2018 and joined in March 2019, on a three-year deal.

He rode the 2018 Strade Bianche, held partly on gravel roads in torrential rain.

He broke away with Romain Bardet and the pair led the race for much of the final 40 km before Tiesj Benoot attacked from a chasing group to catch and then drop them in the final sector of dirt roads.

Benoot soloed to victory by 39 seconds ahead of Bardet, who dropped Van Aert in the final kilometre; Van Aert ultimately finished third, 19 seconds behind, despite falling on the final climb in Siena.

Van Aert rode with the team during road races in 2018.

Van Aert has since taken more than thirty professional road wins, including nine stage victories at the Tour de France between 2019 and 2022 (also winning the points classification in 2022), and won Milan–San Remo – one of the five Cycling monuments – in 2020.

Following the 2022 Tour de France, where Van Aert won three stages, several media outlets labeled him as "one of the most complete cyclists of his generation".

His rivalry with Mathieu van der Poel is considered among the greatest and longest lasting rivalries in the sport.

Van Aert was born in Herentals, Flanders, into a family not involved in bike racing.

One of his father's cousins is Dutch former professional cyclist Jos van Aert.

Over the year, he expressed dissatisfaction with the news that the team was set to merge with for 2019.

Were he to join another team for 2019, Sniper Cycling – the owners of the team – were said to be demanding €500,000 in compensation.

were reported to be interested in signing Van Aert a year earlier than originally agreed, and confirmation of the transfer was announced in December 2018, with Van Aert joining the team from 1 March 2019.

In June, Van Aert won two stages and the green jersey in the Critérium du Dauphiné, became national time trial champion, and won the bronze medal in the road race at the national championship.

In July, he was named in the startlist for the Tour de France.

On 15 July, Van Aert won Stage 10 from Saint-Flour to Albi, in a sprint finish ahead of Elia Viviani and Caleb Ewan.

Four days later, he had a crash during the individual time trial stage in Pau, and was forced to abandon the race due to his injuries.

Van Aert later told newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws that the crash was so severe that it could have ended his career, worsened by a mistake during his surgery, when doctors did not properly work on one of his tendons.

Having already signed a contract to ride with from 2020 onwards, he terminated his contract with in September 2018.

It was not known at the time whether he would recover for the cyclo-cross season or even the classics at the start of the 2020 road cycling season.

In November, Van Aert won the Flandrien of the Year award.

He made his return to racing at the Azencross cyclo-cross event just after Christmas, finishing fifth.

Van Aert made his return to road racing at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – having not been expected to ride in the race – just missing the top-ten placings in eleventh.

However, this would be his only race day prior to the enforced suspension of racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 1 August, Van Aert won the first rescheduled UCI World Tour race to be held following the COVID-19 pandemic, Strade Bianche after attacking solo with around 13 km remaining.

The following week, Van Aert won the rescheduled Milan–San Remo after outsprinting French rider Julian Alaphilippe, the defending champion, of, in a two-up sprint, after the duo had broken away from the peloton on the descent of the Poggio di San Remo.

On 2 September, he won the fifth stage of the Tour de France from Gap to Privas, in an uphill sprint.

He also won the sprint in the seventh stage from Millau to Lavaur.

At the UCI Road World Championships in Imola, Van Aert won the silver medal in both the individual time trial and in the road race.

Van Aert started the 2021 road season on 6 March at Strade Bianche and came in fourth place.

He then rode Tirreno–Adriatico with overall aspirations, winning the opening stage in a bunch sprint ahead of elite sprinters like Caleb Ewan and Elia Viviani.

After consistent and strong performances in the rest of the race, including a victory in the last stage, a 10.1 km individual time trial, he managed to win the points classification and finish second in the general classification behind 2020 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.

After Tirreno–Adriatico, Van Aert came third in Milan–San Remo behind Jasper Stuyven and Ewan.

On 28 March Van Aert sprinted to victory in Gent-Wevelgem after making the winning selection during the early stages of the race.

On 18 April Van Aert won the Amstel Gold Race after a two-up sprint with Tom Pidcock, which was ultimately decided by a photo finish.

On 7 July Van Aert won Stage 11 of the Tour de France by attacking on the last climb of Mont Ventoux, over 32 km from the finish.