After van Aert's favoritism, Dekker and Ten Dam believe that Visma's 'winning together' slogan will benefit Jorgenson

Thomas Dekker and Laurens ten Dam think there was a lot of internal tension at Visma | Lease a Bike after the disastrous Dwars door Vlaanderen. Wout van Aert demanded a sprint and let Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot ride for him. However, Neilson Powless (EF) beat the Belgian in the sprint. In the podcast Live Slow Ride Fast, they also watched in amazement.

Enough had already been said and written in the national and international newspapers by analysts from Belgium and other cycling podcasts about the 3-to-1 situation Visma | Lease a Bike managed to mess up. Did the gentlemen from Live Slow Ride Fast have any new insights? Well, Dekker, for example. He heard and saw a rather annoyed Jorgenson after the finish. "It seemed like he already disagreed when it was decided. I don't think he was involved in the decision either."

And that can weigh heavily now that the classic core of Visma | Lease a Bike will continue to work together until Paris-Roubaix. "They're not bad guys, so there won't be any trouble on the bus, but there have been chaotic situations with teams for less than this," Dekker says. "I don't think they will tease Van Aert about this, but the decision Wout will make in a Tour of Flanders at such a moment will be different. He will let Jorgenson ride then so that at least he himself will not have done anything wrong."

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Three Visma's were defeated by Powless

Jorgenson will come up with a Vuelta scenario, says Ten Dam

And that is exactly how a true athlete should not think, Ten Dam and sidekick Jim van den Berg also say. "But he is human and not the leader at the moment," Dekker thinks. Ten Dam: "They need to have a good talk, and then it is good that they are together. In a good team, they would have talked about how they didn't perform after an E3 prize like that. Visma did dominate the entire race, and they should take that as a positive. But this is something they need to discuss with Wout now."

The comparison is drawn with the 2023 Vuelta an España, the edition in which Visma finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, and Primoz Roglic. In week three, Kuss was the one who was dealt the winning card, something that Roglic had to be convinced of for a while. "Merijn Zeeman then flew to Spain, as he probably would have done now. During that Vuelta, the riders told Roglic it was against the team's values to attack each other. Jorgenson will rise to the occasion now; he was trained for two years with the motto 'winning together.'"

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Matteo Jorgenson

Van Aert has no chance in the Tour of Flanders?

Even if Visma | Lease a Bike gets everyone back on the same page, Dekker thinks there's nothing in the tank for Sunday's Tour of Flanders. "This kind of sums up Visma's season, how it went down," he said cynically. "From a sporting point of view, he is lacking a few percent."

Van den Berg says the Killer Bees only have a chance with absolute teamwork. It went against Visma | Lease a Bike's values to prioritize van Aert's victory over that of a Visma rider. "Van Aert didn't have the legs to ride 10 kilometers solo; otherwise, you would win the sprint. He may have fooled himself a little with the legs he had. They rode f*cking well; that's why this is so sad."

Read also

International media laughs at Visma and van Aert, Belgian media seeks reassurance: "He seemed ready to take on van der Poel and Pogacar"

Van Aert wanted to compete in Gent-Wevelgem after doubts following E3, but Visma | Lease a Bike didn't allow it

Belgian analysts in disbelief after Dwars door Vlaanderen: "The last 100 meters ruined a lot"

Visma | Lease a Bike saw a different Van Aert after Dwars door Vlaanderen crash, but tests and E3 proved that changing style is not an option

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