{"id":786748,"date":"2026-02-24T22:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786748\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:36:12","slug":"wout-van-aert-recovered-and-ready-to-return-to-racing-at-omloop-het-nieuwsblad-and-le-samyn-after-ankle-fracture-threatened-to-disrupt-season-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786748\/","title":{"rendered":"Wout van Aert recovered and ready to return to racing at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Le Samyn after ankle fracture threatened to disrupt season start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"7f3f0b39-ad59-4b50-bc76-0c05ae812690\">Visma-Lease a Bike announced their men&#8217;s selections for Opening Weekend, confirming that <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/wout-van-aert\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/wout-van-aert\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/wout-van-aert\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wout van Aert<\/a> will begin his 2026 season at <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/omloop-het-nieuwsblad\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/omloop-het-nieuwsblad\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/omloop-het-nieuwsblad\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Omloop Het Nieuwsblad<\/a> this Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Belgian superstar will not compete in the more sprinter-friendly Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday, with the team fielding the resurgent Christophe Laporte and sprint ace Matthew Brennan.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"7f3f0b39-ad59-4b50-bc76-0c05ae812690-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Van Aert will compete in the Ename Samyn Classic (formerly Le Samyn) on Tuesday alongside Laporte.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The 31-year-old Van Aert has one victory each in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (2022) and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (2024) but has never competed in Le Samyn before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The race includes numerous cobbled sectors and is considered a mini-Paris-Roubaix, along with the GP de Denain (March 19), which takes place just across the border in France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/mathieu-van-der-poel\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/mathieu-van-der-poel\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/mathieu-van-der-poel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> was victorious in Le Samyn last year before going on to win Milan-San Remo, the E3 Saxo Classic and Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Van Aert, who is still seeking a maiden Paris-Roubaix victory, had his cyclo-cross season cut short by <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/wout-van-aert-undergoes-successful-surgery-on-fractured-ankle-following-snowy-cyclo-cross-crash\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/wout-van-aert-undergoes-successful-surgery-on-fractured-ankle-following-snowy-cyclo-cross-crash\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/wout-van-aert-undergoes-successful-surgery-on-fractured-ankle-following-snowy-cyclo-cross-crash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a crash during a snowy Exact Cross round in Mol on January 2<\/a>, which left him with a fractured ankle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Fortunately, the recovery from the injury went smoothly, and Van Aert is on track for his <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/spring-classics\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/spring-classics\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/spring-classics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spring Classics<\/a> goals, which also include Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo this year.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-visma-lease-a-bike-for-omloop-nieuwsblad-february-28\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>Visma-Lease a Bike for Omloop Nieuwsblad (February 28)<\/p>\n<ul id=\"d47240ec-a415-46a1-b96c-520ed975f29e\">\n<li>Wout van Aert<\/li>\n<li>Christophe Laporte<\/li>\n<li>Axel Zingle<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Brennan<\/li>\n<li>Timo Kielich<\/li>\n<li>Edoardo Affini<\/li>\n<li>Per Strand Hagenes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a id=\"elk-visma-lease-a-bike-for-kuurne-brussel-kuurne-march-1\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> Visma-Lease a Bike for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (March 1)<\/p>\n<ul id=\"5afa0d91-9e96-4450-adc8-7199e5609c1b\">\n<li>Christophe Laporte<\/li>\n<li>Axel Zingle<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Brennan<\/li>\n<li>Timo Kielich<\/li>\n<li>Matisse Van Kerckhove<\/li>\n<li>Filippo Fiorelli<\/li>\n<li>Pietro Mattio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a id=\"elk-visma-lease-a-bike-for-le-samyn-march-3\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>Visma-Lease a Bike for Le Samyn (March 3)<\/p>\n<ul id=\"ae9f0feb-5e13-4ade-91ba-239398914ccd\">\n<li>Christophe Laporte<\/li>\n<li>Wout van Aert<\/li>\n<li>Loe van Belle<\/li>\n<li>Matisse Van Kerckhove<\/li>\n<li>Aldo Taillieu<\/li>\n<li>Pietro Mattio<\/li>\n<li>Per Strand Hagenes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visma-Lease a Bike announced their men&#8217;s selections for Opening Weekend, confirming that Wout van Aert will begin his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-786748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116128001902620505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786748","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=786748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}