Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) secured his first cyclocross win in 12 months at the Superprestige round in Gullegem on January 4, 2025. The victory came just one day before the UCI World Cup race in Dendermonde, where Van Aert was expected to face off with his long-time rival Mathieu van der Poel. The Belgian rider’s triumph on the muddy and challenging course in Gullegem came as a surprise, marking a significant achievement in his abbreviated season.
Van Aert started the race from the third row, but quickly moved into the lead group, which included fellow contenders Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines), Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon), Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines), and Superprestige series leader Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck). By the fourth lap, Van Aert began to pick up the pace, steadily moving to the front of the race.
A decisive move came on the sixth lap, when Van Aert launched an attack that left Iserbyt as the only rider able to follow. However, on the final lap, Iserbyt slipped in a muddy corner, forcing him to dismount and run up a punchy climb that followed. This mistake allowed Van Aert to pull away and cross the finish line solo for the win.
“I didn’t expect I was going to be able to beat these guys on this course,” Van Aert admitted after the race. “Hard to believe, because people think I always ride to win. But now 2025 has started, and that feels really good.” Van Aert praised the technical aspects of the course, which made for a tough challenge that wore down his competitors. He added, “On the last lap, I increased the pace once more, which ultimately proved to be enough to take victory.”
Van Aert’s win was made even more special as it coincided with his son Georges’ fourth birthday. As he crossed the line, Van Aert raised four fingers to celebrate, mimicking his son’s favorite “funny face” for the cameras. “Whenever Georges has to be photographed, he pulls a ‘funny face,’ as he calls it. That’s why I did it today,” Van Aert shared.
The victory was a welcome boost for Van Aert after a disrupted season. He missed the Superprestige opener in Mol due to illness and only made his season debut at Exact Cross Loenhout in late December, where he finished fourth. Despite the challenges, Van Aert expressed his excitement for the upcoming World Cup race in Dendermonde.
Van Aert’s winter campaign will continue with the World Cup in Dendermonde, followed by the World Cup in Benidorm and the final round in Maasmechelen. He confirmed that he would not compete in the UCI Cyclocross World Championships, instead focusing on the road season and the spring Classics.
