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Wout van Aert is a Belgian professional cyclist on the Visma-Lease a Bike team. 

An all-rounder who came through the cyclo-cross ranks as a hugely talented junior, Van Aert has established himself as one of the most complete riders in the current peloton. The Belgian joined the men’s WorldTour in 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. In his first season on the road he won two stages apiece at the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France and before a crash in the Tour's time trial ended his season prematurely.

A year later he returned in dramatic style to win Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and a further two Tour de France stages. In 2021 Van Aert added Gent-Wevelgem, Amstel Gold Race and three more Tour de France stages to his palmarès, before claiming silver in the Olympic Games road race and the UCI Road World Championships time trial. 

Van Aert’s rich vein of form continued into 2022 with victories in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, three stages in the Tour de France and a first green jersey win. 

As well as being a three-time world champion in cyclo-cross, a distinguished Classics rider and an impressive time trialist, Van Aert can also turn his attention to the high mountains of the Tour de France. In 2022 he also served as a loyal domestique for eventual Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, supporting the Dane both on the flat roads around France and the major mountain stages.

The 2023 season saw van Aert win E3 Saxo Classic but miss out on major honours in both Grand Tours and the Monuments. His 2024 race schedule will see him challenge for the Spring Classics once more before he turns his attention to a debut at the Giro d'Italia. 

Wout van Aert

Tech

Pro Bikes

Wout van Aert’s Cervélo S5 pro bike: A Monument-winning combination?

In many ways it was a typical off-season for 

, in others it was noticeably different. While the Belgian star could still be found engaging in his annual toil around muddy fields, his winter stint of cyclo-cross racing was shorter than usual and less competitive. Like everyone else, Van Aert was routinely forced to scrap for lower podium placings amid the dominance of arch-rival 

By the end of his nine-race ‘cross season, van Aert had amassed three wins, besting Van der Poel only once in the Benidorm round of the CX World Cup. For many riders that would be impressive, for Van Aert it was his worst win return since the 2019/2020 season.

That won’t have set alarm bells ringing at 

 headquarters, though, as the solid but unspectacular ‘cross season was all part of the Belgian’s plan. 

Having previously found it “mentally difficult” to focus on the Classics after an intense ‘cross season

, a new plan was hashed. The result was a shortened cyclo-cross season and one Van Aert arrived at more undercooked than usual.

It meant sacrificing results against Van der Poel, with the hope that the pendulum will swing come the Classics and, more importantly still, the Monuments. Whether this new approach pays dividends with a 2024 Monument victory remains to be seen, but if Van Aert does succeed, he’ll do it atop the Cervélo S5, a bike with strong Classics credentials.

We caught a glimpse of the Belgian’s Cervélo S5 at the start of the 

10 riders to watch at the Volta ao Algarve

Cervélo S5: A proven Classics and Grand Tour winner

By its official release date in July of 2022, the latest version of the 

 had already built up an enviable palmarès.

It piloted Wout van Aert through arguably his strongest spell of road racing to date, including a Classics season that included wins at Omloop het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic. A Monument victory had looked destined to follow until Covid hampered his Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix hopes.

The bike’s success then translated to the Grand Tours where it powered the Belgian to the green jersey and played its part in 

’s GC win. Despite this, the bike went somewhat under the radar until its official release, mainly because it strikes such a close resemblance to its predecessor.

Rather than overhaul the bike, Cervélo chose to tweak the recipe and, if results are anything to go by, it’s done a good job.

The overall shape of the bike remains the same, including the curved seat tube, but most of the tubes are deeper in line with the UCI’s relaxed rules. This is most noticeable on the deep head tube, something many brands are now adopting. That’s not too surprising as the frontal area of the bike is directly in the wind and is where the most aerodynamic gains can be made, with deep head tubes clearly being an aero winner. To maximise these gains, the trailing edge of the head tube was also refined.

Moving backwards, the bottom bracket is also higher than before. Beyond the bike, the team’s colour scheme has also changed for 2023. For a full rundown on this, check out the link below.

Same colours, new design: A closer look at Visma-Lease a Bike’s 2024 Cervélo S5

Dedicated aero bikes like the S5 tend to take more of their design cues from time trial bikes than regular road bikes - after all, aero is the name of the game. This is reflected in the overall appearance of the bike, but especially in 

As the name suggests, it’s a V shape with a cut-out in the middle and looks more like something you’d find on a time trial bike. It was first introduced on the bike’s predecessor and received some upgrades alongside the latest S5, most notably shedding some grams.

Beyond that, the biggest change was a practical one that has little bearing over the pros. On the first version, the stem arrived slammed on the bike but wasn’t accompanied by any spacers, so everyday cyclists had to hope their bike shop had the right spares, otherwise they were left running a slammed set-up. Now spacers are included. It’s only a small thing but can make a big difference.

The overall shape of the handlebars was designed so that hydraulic brake hoses and shifting cables could be internally routed. This, of course, was previously possible with more traditionally-shaped stems, but these tend to have quite sharp bends which can affect shifting performance. The V stem’s shallower bends are a solution to this problem, although the S5 is now only available with electronic groupsets, so that purpose is redundant.

2024 Men's WorldTour bikes: A guide to the bikes, groupsets, and tech of the top-tier teams

Wout van Aert’s electronic set-up of choice for the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve was a 54/41t SRAM Red AXS chainset, paired with what we think is an 10-33t cassette. That’s the most popular set-up currently used by SRAM-sponsored riders, although they also have the option to mix things up by going 1x.

 is the only major groupset brand that offers a 1x road groupset, something its WorldTour teams took advantage of in 2023. 

Visma-Lease a Bike, then Jumbo-Visma, were one of the main protagonists

, with Primož Roglič catching the headlines when he used 1x for some of the stages during his Giro d’Italia triumph.

Van Aert used it even earlier in the season at Milan-San Remo, although he had to settle for third at the race he won in 2020, which remains his only Monument victory to date.

Visma-Lease a Bike are the only team in the WorldTour peloton that uses Reserve wheels. It’s still a new partnership which started at the beginning of last season, the same time that the team jumped across to SRAM.

The American company offers multiple wheelsets but Van Aert opted for the 52/63s. Reserve says that they were designed to be “the ultimate wheelset for sprint stages”, although the Belgian forgo his chances of a sprint on the opening stage, instead choosing to roll in safely in the bunch in 135th. 

’s Corsa Pro tubeless tyres accompanied the wheels in a 28mm width.

 Antares, which sat atop a Cervélo SP20 Carbon.

 Speedplay pedals and a built-in SRAM Red Quarq power meter.

Wout van Aert's Cervélo Aspero for Gravel World Championships

 set to pit some of the stars of the road against off-road pros, the set-up of both types of rider is an interesting part of the dynamic. How will gear choice vary? What tyres will the road pros choose versus what will the gravel pros set their bikes up with? Mountain bike or road pedals?

With Wout van Aert showing us his set-up, some of these questions are being answered. 

GCN grabbed some time with Van Aert's Cervélo Aspero in Veneto ahead of the weekend's racing. Here are some of the choices he made.

The big choice that Van Aert made, and the one with literally the most moving parts to it, was his decision to run a standard road 2x SRAM setup. 

While his chainrings might be slightly smaller than what he would typically run in a road race, with a 50/37 combination, those differences are small. Clearly, the Belgian is banking on a fast race and wants small jumps between gears throughout the race.

It is interesting that Van Aert is choosing to run this particular 2x road setup because his own Jumbo-Visma team has been proponents of road 1x setups. With SRAM offering a number of different 1x gravel combos, it would seem logical that he would run only one chain ring.

Yet, the race course in Italy is punchy with alternating sections of flat terrain and short steep climbs. So the range of 37-33 at the high end and 50-10 on the low, paired with short jumps between the gears, could be beneficial for the Belgian.

With Jumbo-Visma as one of the Vittoria sponsored teams, it was always going to be Vittoria for Van Aert’s worlds setup. What he has gone with are one of Vittoria’s staples: the Terrino Zero 38mm treads.

The centre track is smooth with only a couple of carved out lines to provide any sort of additional traction on the top. On the side, the tire retains its curved shape, but with honeycomb shaped treads that offer a bit of bite when a rider is taking a corner. It is the consummate 'light' tire choice for courses that contain lots of road.

While Vittoria has narrower options with the zero in the 35mm option, 35mm is a very aggressive choice for any real gravel race and if we were to believe what reports from the course are saying of some rough terrain.

Perhaps the strangest choice from Van Aert is his decision to opt for mountain bike pedals instead of his standard road offering.

While Van Aert is super confident on mountain bike pedals from his time racing cyclo-cross, it seems unlikely that any dismounting will be necessary. With road pedals offering more efficient power transfers, if no dismounting is needed conventional wisdom would suggest road shoes and pedals are the way to go.

Nevertheless, this still could be a comfort decision. Van Aert does enjoy a good gravel ride every now and then, and on those rides he would probably ride the mountain bike pedals. Since there is often an ever so slight difference in one's bike fit between using those two different pedal/shoe systems, keeping it simple might be better than keeping it perfectly efficient.

Nathan Haas’ Colnago G3-X: UCI Gravel World Championships bike check

Haas will team up with a custom-designed Colnago G3-X, described as the “the fastest gravel bike ever designed”, along with Campagnolo Ekar components for the Gravel World Championships.

Nathan Haas’ Colnago G3-X gravel bike for the UCI Gravel World Championships

Since retiring from the WorldTour peloton at the end of 2021, Nathan Haas has become a regular face on the gravel scene. His transition to the discipline has become a well-trodden path in recent years, taken by many former pros as the world of gravel racing has boomed.

Now current WorldTour riders are getting in on the action thanks to the 

, first launched last year and returning this week with another stellar line-up. In the men’s race, defending champion 

 (Alpecin–Deceuninck) will be joined by a host of current WorldTour pros, including 

Last year the course caused a stir as it was relatively tame by gravel standards, but this year’s route is tougher with more distance and climbing. Plus the gravel is more difficult, if rumours are to be believed. That makes bike selection important and we caught a glimpse of Haas’ 

 G3-X set-up ahead of the race, where he’ll be hoping to enjoy gravel glory representing Australia.

 was Colnago’s first foray into the gravel market. The bike hasn’t undergone any changes since then, except for Haas who received a range of custom G3-Xs in 2022, one of them going by the name of ‘Purple Rain’ - the design he’ll be using at the World Championships. While we can’t confirm whether the design team at Colnago are fans of Prince or not, it’s clear from a glance at the colourway where the name derives from - you’ll struggle to find a more eye-catching bike at the World Championships.

Is this the world's lightest functional gravel bike?

The G3-X is, in Colnago’s own words, “the fastest gravel bike ever designed”. Its design somewhat resembles that of the V3Rs, Colnago’s previous race bike which has since been superseded by the V4Rs, with dropped seatstays and an aero seatpost which uses an internal seat clamp.

Despite the similarities, the G3-X is a pure gravel machine, adapted to its purpose through a lower bottom bracket and longer wheelbase - generally, a lower bottom bracket is advantageous for gravel riding as it lowers the bike’s centre of gravity, improving stability.

Of course, the bike also has much wider tyre clearance, accepting a maximum of 700x42mm or 650bx47mm. For Haas, that’s Schwalbe’s G-One R in what we suspect is a 40mm tyre. This is a race-orientated gravel tyre designed for “light terrain, gravel roads and asphalt”, suitable for the mixed nature of the World Championships course, although Haas confirmed that he may change tyres ahead of the race.

Haas has paired these with Campagnolo’s endurance wheelset, the Shamal, rather than the gravel-specific Levante. The Shamal wheels have different rim depths, 35mm at the front and 40mm at the rear, and are slightly more aerodynamic than the Levantes.

Campagnolo Ekar: gearing doesn’t get any wider

The days of limited gearing options are in the distant past and now nearly all groupsets, except the basic entry-level options, are at least 11-speed. Most top-end road groupsets are 12-speed but the Campagnolo Ekar gravel groupset even trumps that with its 13-speed set-up. As is usual for gravel, it’s a 1x system and by our estimate Haas has a 40t chainring. Of the four sizes Campagnolo offers, that’s one of the smallest, falling below the 42t and 44t offerings. This decision may be driven by the nearly 3000m of climbing riders will tackle.

Fizik, Deda and Garmin finish the gravel set-up

Gravel places more strain on the body than other types of riding, specifically the rear end - riders tend to spend more time sitting in the saddle. That makes saddle selection important and for Haas the Fizik Antares Versus Evo is the winning choice. It’s 3D-printed and on the pricier end of the spectrum for everyday riders, but can you really put a value on saddle comfort? The saddle sits atop the aforementioned Colnago aero seatpost.

The front of the bike is dominated by Deda components, including the stem and Gera flared handlebars. Popular for gravel riding, flared handlebars result in a wider stance when riding in the drops, which is usually more stable. They also open up more space for handlebar bags, although that’s not a concern for the World Championships.

Haas’ cockpit is completed with a Garmin computer which is mounted the old-school way to the stem rather than via an aero mount out front. The computer will link up to the Garmin Rally mountain bike pedals.

According to the regulations, every rider has to bring their own tools and a spare tyre or tubular. This will come as a shock to the WorldTour pros who are used to mechanical assistance throughout a race, but is nothing new to the gravel-specialists - many gravel races are decided by mechanical attrition as much as power.

Of course, all of this has to be stored, and Haas has a CO2 canister secured to the seatpost and a pump connected to the bottle cage on his seat tube. There’s also a small Silca saddle bag which should be enough to house a small tool kit.

The 2023 Gravel World Championships are just days away and you can check out a full start list for the men’s and women’s races 

You can discover more pro bikes, tech news and features in the tech section on the 

Narrow Handle Bars, Perfect Bike Saddles & Chain Wax | GCN Tech Clinic

Are Super Strong Cyclists Killing Racing? | GCN Show Ep. 591

The 2024 Giro D'Italia Story So Far! | GCN Racing News Show

I Built A £17,000 Bike. WAS It REALLY Worth It?

Date	Event	Discipline	Classification
8/3/2024	Olympic Games RR	Road	WCRR
8/17/2024	Vuelta a España	Road	2.UWT

Wout van Aert

Race Program

Wout van Aert's Bikes

Wout van Aert’s Cervélo S5 pro bike: A Monument-winning combination?

Wout van Aert's Cervélo Aspero for Gravel World Championships

Nathan Haas’ Colnago G3-X: UCI Gravel World Championships bike check

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