{"id":902359,"date":"2026-09-23T09:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902359\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T09:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:40:11","slug":"bakelants-criticises-van-aert-van-der-poel-before-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902359\/","title":{"rendered":"Bakelants criticises Van Aert & Van der Poel before Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an article for HLN<\/a>, Jan Bakelants<\/a> raised serious doubts about Wout van Aert<\/a> and Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>\u2019s preparations for the World Cycling Championships in Montreal. The two underdogs for the world title didn\u2019t leave for Canada until Tuesday morning CET, and Bakelants believes that could come back to haunt them in Sunday\u2019s road race.<\/p>\n

Van Aert and Van der Poel, as classics specialists, are still considered favorites for the World Championships, despite a challenging climbing course in Montreal. The climbs are challenging but not too long, so Van Aert and Van der Poel\u2014who have both proven time and again that they can ride well uphill\u2014should be able to make an impact.<\/p>\n

Both Van Aert and Van der Poel have put in long training ridesVan Aert proved in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a that he is back in the top form he once had. He won two stages, claimed the green points jersey<\/a>, and played a decisive role\u2014both on climbs and on the flat\u2014in helping his teammates at Visma | Lease a Bike achieve their goals. By early August, he had also already won three stages in the Tour of Denmark, as well as the overall classification.Van der Poel also seems ready for the World Championships. After a disappointing Mountain Bike World Championships in August, he returned to the road at the Tour of Luxembourg following a training block. There, he won two stages, with his performance in Stage 5 being particularly impressive. Van der Poel recorded a 174-kilometer solo breakaway\u2014 the longest of this century<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

\"wout-van-aert-alessandro-romele\"\/<\/p>\n

Van Aert showed excellent form in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel raced in Luxembourg, while Van Aert opted for a training week in BelgiumThe Tour of Luxembourg wrapped up last Sunday, so Van der Poel couldn\u2019t have headed to Canada much earlier. He had already mentioned during the five-day stage race that he really needed the training block following the MTB World Championships<\/a> to get back into top form for the World Championships. The race in Luxembourg provided a welcome competitive boost.<\/p>\n

Van Aert, on the other hand, had already finished racing. After missing the Tour (due to an elbow injury), he planned a training block, rode the Tour of Denmark, did another training block, and then completed the Vuelta. That race ended on September 13, but Van Aert decided to stay in Belgium for another week and complete a few more solid training sessions there.<\/p>\n

Just two days after finishing the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Van Aert was back on his bike for a 32-kilometer recovery ride. In the days that followed, he added nearly 60 and nearly 135 kilometers with Bakelants. \u201cSaving Jan from loneliness,\u201d Van Aert wrote in the caption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The week wrapped up with rides of 201, 47, and 164 kilometers. \u201cWhy train uphill when you can also ride into the wind?\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Read more below the Strava file<\/p>\n

Bakelants criticises Van Aert and Van der Poel<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, it was Bakelants who took a critical stance toward Van Aert and Van der Poel in Tuesday\u2019s edition of the HLN. He may have already mentioned this while riding, but according to the former Belgian cyclist, Van Aert in particular should have already been in Canada to better acclimatise ahead of the World Championships on September 27.<\/p>\n

World Championship competitors Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro, and Paul Seixas have been in Montreal for some time, where they raced the GP Montreal and all three completed the World Championship time trial<\/a> last Saturday.Van Aert and Van der Poel arrive in Canada 6 days before road race<\/p>\n

Van Aert and Van der Poel flew to Canada early Tuesday morning. According to Bakelants, the jet lag from that trip shouldn\u2019t be underestimated. \u201cI\u2019ve experienced it myself: when your day-and-night rhythm is disrupted, it also throws your hormone balance off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Van Aert and Van der Poel will still have several days to arrive in Montreal, Bakelants would have preferred to see them both in Canada sooner. He calls the decisions to race in Luxembourg and spend a week training in Belgium \u201ca logical choice,\u201d but adds: \u201cLeaving so late is by no means an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I understand that Wout wanted to spend some time at home after all those weeks away, and I understand that Mathieu would have preferred to race in Luxembourg, but I’m afraid the jet lag is still going to take its toll on them.” Incidentally, Van der Poel had already dismissed the possibility of jet lag, noting that the trip from Belgium to Canada usually poses no problems, whereas the reverse is often the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an article for HLN, Jan Bakelants raised serious doubts about Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,16656,172712,77973,85,58412],"class_list":["post-902359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-world-championships","tag-jan-bakelants","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-sports","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}