Wout Van Aert finished second in the X2O Trofee Baal on New Year's Day. Mathieu van der Pol has been unbeatable on the cyclocross circuit this winter, and the world champion continued his winning streak on Monday.

"Honestly I was shocked. Mathieu was super strong," Van Aert said after the race, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. [Winning by two minutes is simply much better. I wanted to make Mathieu suffer more. But I also know what I am doing."

Van Aert, of course, scaled back his commitment to cyclocross this winter, aiming to enter the spring classics fresher than usual.

The Belgian has foregone the World Championships, leaving only two cyclocross dates, the X2O Trofee Koksijde on Thursday and the Benidorm World Cup on January 21. In between, Van Aat will join the Visma-Lease A Bike team for a training camp on the road.

"With the way Mathieu is riding right now, I have to be realistic," Van Aert admitted on Monday.

"Of the two races I still have to run, winning one of them is very difficult. That's the reality."

Van Aat's realism is all part of a grand plan.

Last spring, he won the E3 Harelbeke, handing Ghent-Wevelgem to teammate Christophe Laporte, but came up short in the race that defined his classic campaign. He finished fourth in the Tour de Flanders and third in Paris-Roubaix after a late puncture.

According to Wielerflits, Van Aat's new coach, Mathieu Heijboer, explained that the Visma-Lease A Bike rider intentionally lightened his cyclocross load with an eye to performing in early April.

"We want to continue our steady improvement so that we will finally be at our best in April," Heijboer said while watching Van Aert race on Monday.

"So it's not like we're peaking right now, it's just that every month we're getting a little bit better. Last year was different. Back then, his level was very high, even during the cyclocross season. After that, he was depressed both physically and mentally, and his health deteriorated. And in the end, I suddenly had no time to prepare for the spring."

While some have linked van Aert's emphasis to a change in coaches, Heyboer insisted that his decision to reduce his cyclocross calendar stemmed from a debriefing he had with his former trainer Marc Lambertz after the 2023 Classics campaign.

"I want to be clear, this was not my decision, it was already decided during the evaluation after the Spring Classics at the end of April," Heyboer told Wielerfritz.

"Marc was in on it, too, and evaluated it then. It's something that Wout himself strongly supports. There were times when I felt as if I was being framed as if it was my decision, which is not the case at all. It's what Wout himself really wants."

Haiboer dismissed the notion that Van Aat's morale had suffered in recent weeks, not only because of Van der Pol's main rival on the cobblestones, but also because of his fall into Van der Pol's hands.

"It doesn't matter at all. What matters to him is that he enjoys cyclocross. He is competing in a discipline he loves."

Van Aert will start the road season with Classica Haen, Volta ao Algarve, and the opening weekend, but will surprisingly forgo the Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, which he won in 2020. This decision was made with the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in mind, Haiboer explained.

"Currently our high altitude camp is planned shortly before the Flanders Classics. It coincides with Milan - San Remo, so we had to sacrifice that. Sacrificing Strade Bianche was even more difficult for Wout.

"But look, making a choice is never easy." "In light of the bigger picture, it is a decision he supports."