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Ciro Scognamiglio's article on La Gazzetta dello Sport.

VAN AERT'S SURGE. THIS IS HOW THE IDEA OF THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BLOSSOMED: "IT'S AN ACT OF LOVE"

He announced it on Sunday, but those who know him well guarantee that he'd decided the day before.

"Yes, I'll also race the Cyclocross World Championships", it's Wout van Aert's announcement, and it had a double effect: surprise and a smile. It's because another duel with Mathieu van der Poel – in five days in Liévin, France – is still a delight for the eyes. Even if it's the umpteenth time, even if Mathieu Heijboer, van Aert's coach, claims that Wout has only a 10% chance of winning versus the 90% of the Dutch rider, who's on his way to equaling the record of 7 World Championships in the mud. Even van Aert knows that, but that's not the point.

Heart

The point is the almost primordial love that Wout – who's eagerly awaited on the road in the RvV and PR and later on in the debut in the Giro d'Italia – harbours for cyclocross. To explain it, we take note of Maarten Wynants' words, Visma's sports director: "This is why van Aert has become a cyclist: to take delight in the mud. When you're in his shoes and you're coming from a season plagued by serious injuries and you've been staying at home for a long time without riding a bike, it's important to find joy again. Today we've got a big amount of data from which we can deduce all sort of things, but being happy and doing the things you love is also important".

And let's also keep in mind what van Aert himself said on Saturday at the end of the World Cup race in Maasmechelen. He was with van der Poel after two laps before he crashed and finished second at 1'14".

"I enjoyed it immensely. It's crazy how many people come to watch cyclocross and (it's crazy) racing in that atmosphere'".

It should have been his last race of the season. And Sunday, regarding the World Championships, he said: "I'm looking forward to participating. It's an act of love. This extra incentive will do me good for my main goals on the road".

SUPPORT

As said before, the risk of another loss is high. The superiority of van der Poel in cyclocross is absolute – he's won the last 23 races out of 24. And sticking to Worlds, apart from the 3 titles, van Aert can also count the 4 silver medals behind the Dutch rider.

But it doesn't matter. Those who were on the Maasmechelen course know why Wout has made this decision: the way the crowd was cheering for him should suffice. Lap after lap, bend after bend. It'll happen on Sunday too: Liévin isn't far from Belgium and from the Roubaix area. And more than 30000 tickets have already been sold...

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"I applaud Mathieu for expressing himself so strongly and I hope it helps to prevent this from happening in the future."

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from Roger's Instagram story

Wout’s chapeau to Mathieu…Didn’t expect this but quite enjoyed🙂‍↕️🩵🧡

“No, I mean, we’ve been riding against each other… how do you say it? The opposite direction, a few times, but we haven’t really been speaking. So… no. I mean, it would be nice to speak with him here, but it hasn’t really been possible to do yet.”

Wout van Aert🥈 & Mathieu van der Poel🥇 UCI CX World Championships Hoogerheide ‘23 📸 by Bas Czerwinski & David Stockman

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