Wout van Aert, more than any current rider, seems to be able to do it all. He's won Tour de France stages on the flat and in the mountains, as well as time trials. At the 2022 Tour de France, he wore the yellow jersey for four stages and clinched the green jersey competition four days before Paris.
He's got a string of classics wins to his name as well, including Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche in 2020. Including a recent win at the E3 Saxo Classic. Add to that his glistening cyclocross career, with three cyclocross world championships to his name, his first at just 21 years old.
He's become a mainstay of his Jumbo-Visma superteam, which came top of the UCI's team rankings in 2022. Despite that, he seems happy to work as a domestique when called for in support of the team's other stars, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič or to cede victory to teammates, as he did to Christophe Laporte in their two-up at the 2023 Gent-Wevelgem.
Even his longstanding rivalry both on and off road with contemporary Mathieu van der Poel, which stretches back as far as 2012, appears to remain largely cordial.
What is Wout van Aert's bike for 2023?
Wout van Aert and the rest of the Jumbo-Visma team use the aero Cervelo S5 as their main race bike, although the team also has the lighter Cervelo R5 at its disposal when needed. It's kitted out with Reserve carbon wheels with Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, Sram Red AXS groupset and Speedplay Aero pedals.
Although ostensibly the same bike as last year, there have been small changes to the Cervelo S5 and large changes to Jumbo-Visma's component spec, as explained below.
What size is Wout van Aert's bike?
Van Aert is 1.90m tall, weighs 78kg and rides a size 56 Cervelo S5. That gives him a 392mm reach and 565mm stack, although the actual height of the bars is increased significantly by the positive angle of the one-piece bar and stem, rather than the negative angle of a more traditional stem.
The 982mm wheelbase is short for a bike of its size and, alongside the 405mm chainstay length which the rear wheel cutout allows, should yield punchy handling, which would suit van Aert's style.
Wout van Aert's Cervelo S5: Specifications
Jumbo-Visma has been on Cervelo bikes for the last three seasons, but this year has seen some major component changes for the team. Swapping Shimano for Sram, alongside a change to Reserve wheels, a Cervelo sister brand.
The changes probably aren't too significant for van Aert, who rode cyclocross on Sram components in previous seasons and was a pre-launch tester of 1x Sram Red AXS during the 2018/19 cyclocross season.
Van Aert is riding a "pro" 54/41t chainset. It's only available as a power meter kit and not as a complete crankset and was introduced by Sram to give both higher ratios and a more efficient chainline than the more standard X-Range groupset, even if it does add slightly to the weight over the more compact standard design.
The Cervelo S5 aero road bike ridden by van Aert has also undergone a subtle upgrade, announced in mid-2022. Changes included tweaked aero tube profiles, a redesigned fork hinge, tyre clearance increased to 34mm and decreased saddle setback. The new frame is also electronic groupset-only.
The team's main Reserve 52|63 wheelset is available on retail Cervelo S5 bikes and comes with differential front and rear wheel depths. The rim width and profile differ as well, though both are wide at 25mm and 24mm internal respectively. Reserve markets the wheels with a range of three different DT Swiss hubs, with the lightest DT180 version yielding a claimed weight of 1,514g. Although the team have been seen mostly using the 240 hubset in recent races.
There are also new tyres for 2023, with Vittoria yet to announce its new Corsa Pro tyres, which also saw action under Alpecin-Deceuninck's Mathieu van der Poel when he won Milan-San Remo.
Finally, Jumbo-Visma has swapped to Wahoo Speedplay Aero pedals from its previous Shimano Dura-Ace.
The only things that haven't changed from this time last season are the Fizik saddles and bar tape, Garmin computers and Tacx bottles and cages.
History
Van Aert made an uncomfortable transfer to Jumbo-Visma from his previous team, Vérandas Willems–Crelan, in 2018, with that team alleging a breach of contract. The change has paid off in spades for van Aert though, as he quickly took his place as one of his new team's star riders.
Unlike his arch-rival Mathieu van der Poel, who has only ridden Canyon and Stevens bikes in his career, van Aert has ridden a range of bikes too: Bianchi at Jumbo-Visma prior to the team's current Cervelo bikes, road bikes from German brand Stevens at Vérandas Willems–Crelan and Stevens, Felt and Colnago cyclocross bikes before joining the team.
Wout van Aert's 2019 Bianche Oltre XR4
We last featured Wout van Aert's bike back in 2019, when Jumbo-Visma were still on Bianchi bikes and he was riding his debut WorldTour season on a rim brake-equipped Bianchi Oltre XR4, complete with (11-speed) Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 di2 groupset, Pioneer power meter and Dura-Ace deep section wheels with Vittoria tubular tyres. A Vision ACR handlebar was also featured. Who says that WorldTour bike tech never changes?
Wout van Aert's Strada Bianche winning Bianchi Oltre XR4
Wout van Aert raced to victory at Strade Bianche in 2020 aboard a rim brake-equipped Oltre XR4. The Belgian rider elected to use a rim brake version instead of discs at a time when riders were still able to pick and choose.
Van Aert added the bike to his personal collection complete with authentic white Tuscan dust from the race. We understand covering a bike with hairspray will ensure the dirt, dust or mud stay in place. Which is popular on Paris Roubaix-winning bikes etc.
Wout van Aert's 2020 Bianchi Zolder Pro cyclocross bike
Towards the end of the 2019/2020 cyclocross season, Wout van Aert was seen on a new model Bianchi Zolder Pro cyclocross bike. The new bike had slightly dropped seatstays and a Vision Metron 6D one-piece cockpit, although still with external cabling.
The bike featured a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9150 groupset, 46 / 30T chainring sizes and Dugast tubular tyres.
