{"id":162943,"date":"2025-06-06T12:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/162943\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T12:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:36:14","slug":"gourmet-wout-van-aert-enjoys-time-off-after-giro-ditalia-return-to-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/162943\/","title":{"rendered":"Gourmet! Wout van Aert enjoys time off after Giro d\u2019Italia return to form"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After months of speculation that his best is behind him,<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/wout-van-aert\" title=\"Wout van Aert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wout van Aert<\/a> has reminded the cycling world of his class with a stunning<br \/>\nreturn to form at the 2025 Giro d\u2019Italia. After the first week it wasn\u2019t<br \/>\nlooking too good for the Belgian, but flash forward two weeks later, and he was<br \/>\none of the star\u2019s of the show.<\/p>\n<p>Van Aert\u2019s biggest personal moment came on Stage 9 in Siena,<br \/>\nwhere he powered to victory in the shadow of the iconic Piazza del Campo. It<br \/>\nwas his first win of the season, and one that silenced a wave of criticism from<br \/>\nthe Belgian press. For a rider of his calibre, the drought had become a<br \/>\nnational talking point, until he delivered a flawless performance on the gravel<br \/>\nroads of Tuscany.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nBut his greatest contribution to the race may have come for<br \/>\nhis team. On Stage 20, the Belgian produced what team insiders called his largest<br \/>\npower output over a one hour period, helping to launch Simon Yates into the<br \/>\nMaglia Rosa and secure an unforgettable Giro win for <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/team-visma-lease-a-bike\" title=\"Team Visma | Lease a Bike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Team Visma <\/a>| Lease a Bike.<\/p>\n<p>Van Aert\u2019s selfless riding didn\u2019t stop there. He also played<br \/>\na pivotal role in two sprint victories for teammate Olav Kooij, including on<br \/>\nthe final day in Rome.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the Giro behind him, Van Aert is enjoying some<br \/>\nwell-deserved downtime before his next assignment: supporting Jonas Vingegaard<br \/>\nat the 2025 Tour de France. And if his most recent Instagram post is anything<br \/>\nto go by, he\u2019s doing it in style.<\/p>\n<p>Van Aert shared a photo on Instagram from a special evening at the three Michelin<br \/>\nstarred Hof van Cleve, invited by organisers of the E3 Saxo Classic, a race he<br \/>\nhas won in recent years. Dressed to look the part and holding a glass of<br \/>\nchampagne, Van Aert looked every inch the man who is back to his best, enjoying<br \/>\na rare moment of stillness after a rollercoaster spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After months of speculation that his best is behind him, Wout van Aert has reminded the cycling world&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-162943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114636454841839963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}