Cyclo-cross history repeats itself, it is said. Wout van Aert (24) hopes that it is true. Last year, he returned as a new man after his internship in Spain. This year? “You’re going to me, which is not to say that Mathieu is still so much better?”

2,5 weeks away from Belgium, for 2.5 weeks under the Spanish sun in Calpe: Wout van Aert says he enjoyed it. “I like to go on stage,” he says. “Everything is perfect, I have been able to do everything what I wanted. And the weather was great: every day short at 20 degrees, I could have every day in shorts on the path.”