Wout van Aert mixes motorsports and community bike ride on first trip to California

The last time Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) travelled to the United States was seven years ago, when he finished on the podium at a pair of UCI World Cup cyclocross races in Waterloo, Wisconsin and Iowa City, Iowa. The farthest west he had been was Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2016, when, as a 22-year-old, he won the elite men’s World Cup event at Cross Vegas.

Since that 2018 race trip to the Midwest, the three-time cyclocross World Champion has added four silver medals at CX Worlds, more than 30 cyclocross victories and, most notably, won 14 stages in Grand Tours, including 10 at the Tour de France.

On Thursday, Van Aert will be the special guest at a Red Bull Rollout in Santa Monica alongside fellow Red Bull athlete Justin Williams, founder and rider at US-based Continental squad L39ION of Los Angeles. That ticketed community event includes a bike ride, which sold out in two hours.

Williams said 350 people attended the first Red Bull Rollout six weeks ago, and next year, he said that L39ION of Los Angeles and Red Bull planned to host a minimum of three similar events to build community. The Van Aert appearance certainly boosted notoriety for their mission.

Across their global stable of athletes in sports ranging from cliff diving to motor sports, Red Bull endorses 101 individuals who compete in various cycling disciplines. Van Aert and Williams are just two of the six athletes who compete in road cycling.

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With such an impressive resume and global star power, the 31-year-old said he was still amazed that his popularity was high in the US and was impressed with the advanced enthusiasm for the Red Bull Rollout.

“Even though I’m well known in Europe, and already so far away from home, it still feels pretty weird to have a fan base here as well,” he said. “My goal is to meet people here and to feel their excitement for us as a team, and me personally as a cyclist. It’s a cool opportunity. It’s more exciting than an autograph session.

“I hope to be racing again here at some point, because I haven’t had the chance. I think there is a big platform here for big cycling events. I did the previous two Olympic Games, so for sure, a big target for me is to be here for the L.A. Olympics,” Van Aert confirmed.

The next summer Olympiad, July 30-August 14, 2028, will be the third time Los Angeles has hosted the Olympic Games, which were previously in southern California in 1932 and 1984.

Well before then, Van Aert will return to cyclocross, but he was not ready yet to discuss his plans for the winter off-road racing season.