‘Maybe I’m longing for the end of the season’: Demotivated Van Aert abandons previous plan to race GP Plouay, will focus on Canadian GPs.
(Photo: TOM GOYVAERTS/Belga/AFP via Getty Images )
Updated August 29, 2025 03:29AM
Wout van Aert recently revealed he’s craving the couch, and now he pivoted from the plan to race the Bretagne Classic-GP Plouay.
Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed Thursday that Van Aert has pulled the plug on Sunday’s WorldTour one-dayer and will instead focus on the Canadian GPs.
Meanwhile, Van Aert’s teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will return to the peloton at the French classic in her first race since she romped to victory at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Van Aert ‘longing for the end of the season’
Van Aert’s calendar reshuffle is both a surprise and not.
The 30-year-old recently hinted he’s over 2025.
The cobbled classics, Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and more recently, the Deutschland Tour packed out his early calendar.
Now he’s feeling rudderless.
“In the past, the Tour de France was followed by major goals – the Olympics, worlds, or – after all my injuries last year – the Vuelta. After my busy spring, I figured things would be a little less exciting this time,” Van Aert told Het Nieuwsblad.
“It’s mainly a mental issue,” Van Aert said last weekend from the Germany tour.
Van Aert already confirmed he won’t race the mountainous road worlds, so he’s pretty much left counting the days until he can have a lay-in.
September’s Québec and Montréal GPs, and the Super 8 Classic, are the only races left on his road program for 2025.
But fear not, Wout fans.
The Belgian told HNB he’s not bored or burned out in some Pogačar-esque malaise.
“Maybe I’m longing for the end of the season a little bit,” he said. “It doesn’t surprise me.
“It’s perfectly normal that after a tough period of racing you need a change of pace. Every rider will agree with that.”
Olav Kooij, Cian Uijtdebroeks, and Christophe Laporte will lead Visma-Lease a Bike for Sunday’s classic in Van Aert’s absense.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), Marc Hirschi (Tudor), and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) will be looking to get in their way.
Ferrand-Prévot rebooting for Rwanda
Ferrand Prevot makes her racing return, four weeks after winning the Tour. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images )
Meanwhile, Ferrand-Prévot makes her return Sunday at the women’s race in Plouay.
The Tour de France Femmes winner recently reversed her decision and decided to race the Kigali road worlds.
After enjoying four weeks of post-Tour peace, Sunday’s hilly classic is the start of her warm-up for “Project Rainbow.”
“After the Tour de France Femmes, I deliberately allowed myself a short period of rest, both to recover physically and to process everything mentally,” Ferrand-Prévot said Thursday in a team statement. “That was important, but now I feel full of energy and motivation to race again together with my teammates.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back that racing feeling,” she said.
Ferrand-Prévot will team up with Marianne Vos for a double-punch that should make V-LAB the pre-race favorites.
However, for Ferrand-Prévot, Plouay is all in service of another rainbow jersey.
“I’m excited to test myself there again,” she said. “Moreover, Plouay is a great opportunity to gain racing rhythm and to keep working on my form in the lead-up to the coming weeks and the world championships.”
Ferrand-Prévot will also race the Tour de l’Ardeche early next month before she flies to Rwanda in the hunt for her first road world title in 11 years.