Belgium concerned over van Aert’s tactics: "Giving in to the competition in that spot is catastrophic"

Fourth in the Tour of Flanders, fourth in Paris-Roubaix. Wout van Aert was still reasonably satisfied with these results, but Visma | Lease a Bike also admitted that more was expected of him this spring. The Belgian will have to return to the drawing board, although there were mitigating circumstances after all his crashes in 2024. They are not giving up hope in Belgium, but they are clearly struggling with how things should proceed for van Aert.

Soon after Paris-Roubaix, Belgian analyst José De Cauwer had his say on Sporza. The Belgian was impressed by Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar, who he believes are superior. "Until last week, we were talking about three top riders. And it didn't matter who that third one would be. It could be Pedersen, but also van Aert. That's what we were hoping. But after today, we have to say that the two of them are simply the best."

"A truly unique period in cycling history," emphasizes De Cauwer, who sees van Aert as only playing a secondary role. "In the Tour, he was dropped at critical moments. But towards the end, he performs well. But the super speed is no longer there when things go very fast. I don't know why. People then say that Van Aert should go back to the drawing board. I won't say I have the solution, but I would start racing the old-fashioned way with van Aert. And start racing!"

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Van Aert was dropped in Trouée d'Arenberg

Van der Poel crushed van Aert

Cycling specialist Marc Sergeant calls Van Aert 'too friendly' in Het Nieuwsblad. "Van Aert lost his race on a stretch of barely five kilometers, specifically in and after the Trouée d'Arenberg. First, it was his own fault. Van Aert insisted that his legs were not good enough in the Trouée d'Arenberg. But look at the images, and you realize something else is happening. Van Aert still enters Trouée d'Arenberg in a good position. But when Pogacar goes to the front, you see him fighting with Pedersen for Pogacar's wheel at a particular moment. That's where it goes wrong. Is he too kind?"

Van Aert lost the battle in the chaos, but according to Sergeant, it may also have been due to something else. "Is it his fear after all those crashes that makes him hit the brakes more often than before? But you see van Aert hold his legs still for two seconds. And that is something you don't want to do. Giving in to the competition in that spot is catastrophic. Van Aert lost his momentum there and, with it, his speed, especially when he did it again shortly after. Holding his legs still again, losing that momentum again, losing his position and more time."

According to Sergeant, the fact that van Aert did not return after Trouée d'Arenberg was 'the merit of Van der Poel.' "The entire peloton has been focusing on Trouée d'Arenberg for hours, but after that stretch, there is often a pause. So Van der Poel shifted his focus to the stretch after Trouée d'Arenberg. He immediately attacked and decided to race there, not so much on the cobblestones but on the asphalt—a brilliant move."

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Wout van Aert

Tire pressure system doesn't help van Aert (enough)

"Wout van Aert and Visma | Lease a Bike hoped the much-discussed Gravaa system would give them an advantage on the tricky cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix. It didn't work out that way," concluded Jan Bakelants in HLN. "The system didn't fail, but as Van Aert candidly admitted after the race, the legs still make the law. This Paris-Roubaix will not be historic for the breakthrough of technological innovation but confirms the hierarchy of the spring: a clash of the titans between two phenomena that are taking cycling to a new level."

"Their dominance is reminiscent of the years of Tom Boonen and Fabio Cancellara, but even more overwhelming for the competition,” it continues. ”That frustrates van Aert and, by extension, the entire peloton. Van Aert consistently performs excellently – podium places in the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and the Omloop were his share in recent years – but the highest step remains out of reach in the cobblestone monuments when the two supernatural talents start. If they are in top condition and are not unlucky, van Aert will find it difficult to win this spring."

Bakelants, therefore, sees things somberly for Monument hunter Van Aert, but: "Don't get me wrong: Van Aert will win many races. His body is at its peak in the summer. That has always been the case in the Tour or his rock-solid Strade Bianche in August of that Covid-19 year..."

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