Jumbo Visma's Wout Van Art on Saturday, part of retired pro athlete Lawrence ten Dam's "Dirty Kanzeldo," an event held in Kansas to replace the postponed 200-mile gravel race, Dirty Kanza, which is primarily off-road. The 320-km ride was completed.

Ten Dam, who retired from professional cycling at the end of last season and now competes in gravel events around the world, was scheduled to ride Dirty Canza in the United States on Saturday, but a coronavirus pandemic forced organizers to postpone the event until September. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers were forced to postpone the event until September. Instead, Ten Dam came up with the concept of the Dirty Kanzaerd, inviting riders to attempt a gravel or off-road ride over the same distance of 200 miles (321.2 km).

Van Aert, a three-time cyclecross world champion and 2019 Tour de France stage winner, was joined by Jumbo-Visma teammate Maarten Weinants and the 2019/20 UCI in Iowa City, USA, in September. He completed the ride in Belgium with his friend from the elite cyclocross circuit, Daan Soete (Group Hens-Maes Containers), who finished third in the opening round of the Cyclocross World Cup.

"It seemed like a good challenge for us to participate in something like this at this time of year," Van Aert said after Saturday's ride, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

"And it was a lot of fun.

It was Van Aert himself who came up with the trio's route, and he "rode off-road as much as he could.

He admitted that the route he chose was not perfect and that he got lost several times, but said he enjoyed the challenge of coming up with a suitable route that met all the requirements.

"I also needed some prep time to get my bike ready so I could bring enough luggage. We only had to stop twice." I find that I miss the challenge of doing something like this.

As for Soete, who is used to racing at high intensity for just one hour in a cyclocross race, the Belgian told Het Laatste Nieuws what it was like to ride with two World Tour pros.

"It was especially long," he laughed. It was a great day," he laughed. But it sure was, especially when it was windy."

Soete may have been pleased to learn that Van Aert also had a tough day.

"I'm going to take it easy for the next couple of days," the 25-year-old said. 'But I'd love to do the original Dirty Kanza sometime. But I'd like to do the original Dirty Kanza someday.'