When last May he danced across the white roads and rolled into Piazza del Campo with his arms aloft to win Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia, Wout van Aert must have realised just how much he had missed Strade Bianche. Back in 2018, when he was still “only” a phenomenal cyclocross rider racing in Vérandas Willems colours, Siena was where he announced himself to the road world, finishing third in a rain- and mud-soaked edition, even hitting the deck and crawling up Via Santa Caterina on empty legs.
He won solo in 2020, but that was the Covid year and he was denied the roar and embrace of the crowd. The following season he finished fourth, in an edition claimed by his great rival Mathieu van der Poel. After that, Siena disappeared from his calendar, squeezed out by team plans and a packed schedule pointing him elsewhere. Until the 2025 Giro, when the gravel roads and the magic of Siena helped him rediscover himself after a difficult year marked by crashes and form that never quite clicked.
