Van Aert takes his first win of the cyclo-cross season in Ardooie
19 October 2018 05:55
Wout van Aert took his first cyclo-cross win of the 2018/19 season on Thursday when the Belgian won the Kermiscross in Ardooie, in West Flanders, Belgium, for the third year in a row. Van Aert has endured a difficult past few months away from the bike in that his former team, Veranda's Willems-Crelan, announced in August that it was to merge with the Dutch Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij road team to create a new squad for 2019 – yet Van Aert said that he wasn't told about the deal until the 11th hour, and was unhappy about it. Van Aert has already signed a deal to join LottoNL-Jumbo in 2020 – or Team Jumbo, as it's set to be called from next season. The 24-year-old had enjoyed a hugely successful road season with Veranda's Willems-Crelan in 2018, taking third place at the Strade Bianche, second place on a stage of the Tour of Austria, third place at the European Championship road race, and winning a stage and the overall classification at the Tour of Denmark.ADVERTISEMENT But, in mid-September, after the Roompot merger story came out, Van Aert terminated his contract with Veranda's Willems-Crelan and went on to start the first round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin, USA, without a team, wearing his world champion's rainbow skinsuit with his initials – WVA – emblazoned across the front. At the start of this month, however, Van Aert announced that he had joined the one-man 'off-road division' of the Cibel-Cebon team for the cyclo-cross season. The Belgian team also competes on the road at UCI Continental level. Van Aert's Dutch rival, Mathieu van der Poel, wasn't at Thursday's Kermiscross in Ardooie.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article
