After an underwhelming classics season and a lingering winless streak, Wout van Aert’s Giro d’Italia debut has marked a turning point. Two weeks in, he has a stage win and appears to be back on form. But what exactly does that mean for the 30-year-old? If his power data is anything to go by, he's as strong as ever, and the knee injury and subsequent illnesses that have plagued him are no longer impacting his output.
The Giro stage win backs up the numbers. Wout's stage win took place on the white roads of Tuscany, on a parcours that shared a lot of DNA with Strade Bianche, finishing in Siena’s iconic Piazza del Campo, a place Van Aert knows well. It was where he started his road career, and later, where he would go on to win the race in 2020 in dominant fashion.
In a recent Instagram post, sandwiched between a picture of the stage 13 sprint with Pedersen and a shot of fruity oatmeal, Van Aert included a screenshot from TrainingPeaks that offers a glimpse into his current form. We can combine these basic figures with some additional data from Velon for a slightly clearer picture.
That’s a big number
Van Aert didn’t share all of his power PBs from the first two weeks of the Italian Grand Tour. The screenshot only shows his best 1, 5, and 10-minute efforts. However, these numbers are enough to make you go lightheaded and taste blood.
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