Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) will return to competition on Sunday 10 May at the Marly Grav in Valkenburg, his first race since winning Paris-Roubaix on 12 April. The UCI Gravel World Series event, which starts and finishes at the Shimano Experience Centre in South Limburg, covers 150m with around 1,500 metres of climbing for the men's race.
The Belgian star's entry was first reported by WielerFlits, which said Van Aert was spotted reconnoitring parts of the course on Friday alongside directeur sportif Maarten Wynants and Nathan van Hooydonck. The race will be shown live on TV for subscribers of HBO Max, Eurosport and TNT Sports in the UK and Europe on Sunday, May 10th.
Van Aert is making his first racing appearance since Paris-Roubaix in an emotional victory that saw him beat world champion Tadej Pogačar to claim his first cobbled Monument title in a two-up sprint. Speaking to Sporza after the race, he said he had recovered quickly. "I have never recovered so smoothly from a Classic, because I didn't feel tired at all," Van Aert said. "I could take on the world, I'd say."
He was reported to have resumed training on 22 April after a post-Roubaix holiday, recording a short recovery ride of just under 6.5 kilometres at an average of 14.2km/h.
Gravel pedigree and a familiar setting
Van Aert has history with gravel racing. In August of 2023 he stormed to victory in Houffalize by nine minutes on his closest competitor. He also took part in the UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto that year, though a crash and puncture in the opening phase left him out of contention. The South Limburg course includes rolling hills, loose soil and unpaved roads.
Van Aert has won in Valkenburg before. He won the cyclocross world championship there in 2018 and took the Amstel Gold Race in the same region in 2021.
He isn't the only familiar face, though. World gravel champion, Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has also recovered well from the Classics and sees an opportunity to get a rare win in his own set of rainbow bands after working hard in support of his teammate, Pogačar, on the road. As well as Van Aert and Vermeersch the men's startlist includes cyclocross star Niels Vandeputte, former Olympic and Roubaix champion Greg Van Avermaet, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-QuickStep), Thomas De Gendt, Michael Vanthourenhout, Cameron Mason, and many more.
As for the women's race, Dutch world champion and last year's winner, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) returns to the race. Rising star, Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) will also be racing the 150km route with French cyclocross star Amandine Fouquenet also among the names on the startlist.
Some 1,800 riders are entered across all categories. The top 25% in each category earn qualification spots for the UEC European Gravel Championships in Houffalize on 30 August and the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, Australia. The Marly Grav is being held for the fourth time and was voted best event by participants after the 2025 UCI Gravel World Series season.
Cover image credit: Javier Martínez de la Puente/Zubiko Photography/SWpix
