Wout Van Aert will play a key role in the Belgian team competing in the men's elite race at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships, but will start from the third row after dropping down the rankings due to missing a race this year.

Van Aert is 32nd in the UCI cyclocross individual rankings. The eight riders in front of him are Belgian riders who are out of the team, but there are still more than 20 riders (according to the unpublished team composition) left on the starting grid, as reported by Wielerflits.be.

Rankings are calculated on a 12-month basis, but Van Aat has completed only six races in the past year, including last year's World Championships.

Last year, Van Aert was second on the grid behind defending champion Mathieu van der Poel, but finished runner-up to the Dutchman. After the world championships, he interrupted his cyclocross season to focus on his road career with Jumbo-Visma, winning two stages at the Criterium du Dauphiné and one stage at the Tour de France before taking two podiums in the early classics.

His season was interrupted when he hit a sharp obstacle hard in an individual time trial at the Tour de France and suffered severe lacerations to his hip muscles and capsule.

After a prolonged rehabilitation from the injury, Van Aat made his first appearance of the cyclocross season on December 27 in Loenhout. His most recent result was 5th in the Belgian Championships.

A poor starting position meant Van Aert had to chase down the peloton to get to the front of the race.

However, Van Aert can refer to the victory of Zdenek Stival (Czech Republic), who won a thrilling close race with Sven Nys (Belgium) from the fourth row in Hugelheide in 2014.

The parcours in Dübendorf, Switzerland, is almost flat and wide, which could give Van Aat an advantage.