Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert will make his return to cyclocross on Saturday at round 2 of the X2O Badkamers Trofee (formerly DVV Trofee) in Kortrijk, Belgium, as he returns after a break following the 2020 road season, He says no one should expect too much too soon.

Van Aert won two stages this season, Milan-San Remo, Strade Bianche, and the Tour de France, and was second in the Tour de Flanders and won silver medals in the road race and time trial at the world championships.

Second place behind longtime rival Mathieu van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix) in the Tour of Flanders was Van Aat's last road race of the season. After a short break, the 26-year-old Belgian has been slowly regaining his fitness at a training camp in Spain and has only returned to cyclocross biking in recent weeks.

"It is not unusual to be expected to do a lot after a season on the road," Van Aert said in a press release from sports marketing firm Golazo, reported Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday. But anyone who thinks they can continue in cyclocross what they left undone on the road is looking at things too simplistically."

"It's also very dangerous for me to start thinking that way. It's not realistic to expect to be at your best right away. I have been riding long enough to know that the level [of cyclo-cross] is very high. Don't forget that we will be competing against some of the best riders in the world on Saturday.

"Those riders have been working hard all summer for this competition. I expect them to be able to rely on their experience and conditions, but don't expect them to set the pace."

The long-awaited resumption of the cyclocross rivalry between three-time world cyclocross champion Van Aert and three-time champion Van der Poel will not happen until round four of the X2O Badkamers Trofee in Herentals on December 23.

"I'm certainly not in great shape at the moment," Van Aert reiterated. I want to use the first block of "crosses" in Kortrijk, Tabor (round 1 of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup), and Boom (round 3 of the Telenet Superprestige Series) to get on track. [Van Art's 'cross season will climax at the World Championships in Ostend at the end of January, where he will also face defending champion Van der Pol.

"As a result of the road going well, my view of cyclocross has changed a bit," he said. But it doesn't change the fact that I still race to win. Of course, winning races is part of that."

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