Three-time UCI cyclocross world champion and 2019 Tour de France stage winner Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) is set to make his 2020 road season debut this Saturday at the Omloop Het Nuusblad The Belgian looks to be in good form.

Van Aert, who last competed on the road in the 2019 Tour and abandoned the race after crashing in the time trial on stage 13, has been training in Tenerife, Spain, and was recently on the Spanish island with four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome (Team Ineos He took the Strava KOM (open in new tab) from the Os.

Van Aert rode the 3.86-km (4% average gradient) Gia de Isola climb at an average speed of 29.5 km/h in 7:51. Froom had the best time of 7:55 on this section. Other section leaders included Michal Kwiatkowski, Dylan Van Barle, and Joe Dombrowski.

Van Aert suffered a major crash in the individual time trial of stage 13 of the Tour in Pau last July, when a barriers he hit tore through muscle and connective tissue and left him with a severe right hip injury. He underwent two surgeries to repair this damage and said he feared he would never walk again, much less race at the pinnacle of the sport.

However, he returned to racing in December of the cyclocross season, finishing fifth in the DVV Verzekeringen Trofee Azencross. He finished fourth at the World Championships, which was again won by rival Matthieu van der Poel, and earlier this month he took an impressive victory at the DVV Verzekeringen Trofee Krawatencross.

Jumbo Visma joined Van Aert on the "opening weekend" of Omloop. After Omloop, Van Art will compete in the Strade Bianche on March 7.