Wout van Aert almost crashes in Arenberg Forest during Paris-Roubaix recon due to suspected puncture while using self-inflating tyre pressure system

Wout van Aert’s turbulent classics campaign almost went up in smoke this afternoon, when the Belgian star narrowly avoided crashing due to a suspected puncture while riding at speed through the iconic Arenberg Forest during a Paris-Roubaix recon.

The Visma-Lease a Bike leader, who was being filmed by Flemish broadcaster VTM as he tested himself ahead on the Paris-Roubaix route ahead of his attempt to finally win the Hell of the North on Sunday, had just entered the race’s most infamous stretch of cobbles when he lost control of his bike and was forced to unclip.

Wout van Aert almost crashes in the Forest of Arenberg during Paris-Roubaix recon ride, 2025 (credit: VTM)

Suffering what Het Laatste Nieuws reported to be a flat front tyre, Van Aert attempted to put his foot down before veering dramatically across the road, using all his world title-winning cyclocross skills to pull off a spectacular, if rather scary, save.

The 30-year-old eventually ended up on the tarmacked section to the side of the Trouée d'Arenberg’s notorious cobbles, a section of the route that will be barriered off during the weekend’s races, before steadying himself.

Wout van Aert almost crashes in the Forest of Arenberg during Paris-Roubaix recon ride, 2025 (credit: VTM)

Further footage showed Van Aert coming to a halt with a clear front puncture, stopping at his team support vehicle, before discussing tyre pressure with his mechanic.

Posting his 130km ride on Strava this afternoon, Van Aert appeared to reference his shocking, high-speed near miss in the Arenberg, captioning his post: “You have to get through the forest, right?”

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, that Arenberg close call marked the second time Van Aert had punctured during today’s reconnaissance ride of Paris-Roubaix’s decisive cobbled sectors with his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates.

It has also been reported in the Belgian press that Van Aert was using the recon ride to test out Gravaa’s groundbreaking tyre pressure adjustment system.

Wout van Aert almost crashes in the Forest of Arenberg during Paris-Roubaix recon ride, 2025 (credit: VTM)

The self-inflating and deflating tyre technology, which allows you to adjust and monitor tyre pressure while riding via a pump that’s integrated into the hubs and using buttons on your handlebars, was first used by Visma-Lease a Bike during the 2023 classics season.

Dylan van Baarle and Christophe Laporte raced with Gravaa’s KAPS (kinetic air pressure system) technology at the 2023 Paris-Roubaix, though Van Aert himself opted out. After a brief period of inaction in the peloton, an updated version of the system was used by Marianne Vos as she secured the 14th rainbow jersey of her career at the UCI gravel world championships last October.

> Wheels featuring self-inflating/deflating tyre system used by Marianne Vos to win Gravel World Championships now available to pre-order priced from £3,200

Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot both took advantage of the tech at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, the French rider sprinting to a career-high second-place at the Ronde behind world champion Lotte Kopecky.

And in March, Visma-Lease a Bike’s 19-year-old British sensation Matty Brennan won the GP Denain, which finishes just five miles south of the Arenberg Forest, utilising the tyre pressure system.

2024 Gravaa front wheel hub (credit: road.cc)

The benefits of using the Gravaa system at a race like Paris-Roubaix, where 55km of the 259km route feature rough, jagged cobblestones, are obvious, enabling riders to inflate and deflate their tyres as they switch between road surfaces, increasing comfort and handling on the pavé while retaining speed on the asphalt.

In theory, anyway, having such a level of control over your tyre pressure should also lead to fewer punctures – though as Van Aert discovered in the Arenberg Forest this afternoon, you can never rule anything out in cycling.

Wout Van Aert s'est fait une belle frayeur dans la Trouée d'Arenberg ce jeudi, en marge de sa reconnaissance de #ParisRoubaix. 📹HLNpic.twitter.com/Q51sU6C2D9

— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) April 10, 2025

Arenberg scares aside, it’s certainly been a tricky classics season so far for Van Aert. After a 2024 campaign marred by crashes and injury, the Visma-Lease a Bike leader started the year in consistent if somewhat underwhelming fashion, at least compared to the immediate successes of his big one-day rivals, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.

However, an embarrassing defeat at last week’s Dwars door Vlaanderen, which saw Van Aert surprisingly outsprinted by Nielson Powless, despite his Visma team outnumbering the American EF-EasyPost rider three-to-one in the winning move, ushered in a gruelling post-mortem in the Belgian cycling press, as doubts bubbled to the surface over whether the 30-year-old will ever win the cobbled monuments that appeared a few short years ago to be his destiny.

That critical, unwavering focus on their biggest one-day star from the Flemish media seems to be increasingly playing on Van Aert’s mind, his defeat to Powless in Waregem partially a result of his desire to make a ‘statement’ ahead of the Tour of Flanders.

Wout van Aert, 2025 Tour of Flanders (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

A more promising, spirited, and attacking display at the Ronde, which nevertheless saw him finish fourth behind the three classics riders who have eclipsed him, Pogačar, Van der Poel, and Mads Pedersen, has gone some way to easing the pressure ahead of Paris-Roubaix, the biggest day of Van Aert’s entire season.

Will his near miss in the Arenberg be the only time Van Aert slips up on the Paris-Roubaix cobbles this week?