"Remco slowly got the better of me," van Aert analyzed, while reflecting on the sprint situation.

Looking back at the Brabantse Pijl on paper, one might wonder why van Aert failed to beat his compatriot Remco Evenepoel in a one-on-one sprint. But that wasn't the story of the race at all. “Of course, I hope to win, especially when you're riding to the finish line for a sprint in a situation like that. But I was exhausted. Remco slowly got the better of me in the race's final hour. It was already tough to keep up in the last lap, so he earned the victory,” he said honestly in the flash interview.

Van Aert and Evenepoel had already been on the road for a while, first with Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and later just the two. It was a tough battle for a long time, but van Aert stayed behind Evenepoel in the final phase. “I'm not really that disappointed. We wanted more, but a sprint after a race like this is different. I didn't have a good sprint left, even though I would have liked to beat him.”

That didn't happen because he simply ran out of steam. Just like he did in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. "I hoped it would come to a complete standstill in the last kilometer so that it would be a more explosive sprint. But Remco kept pushing hard, which made it quite a long effort. This was all I could do. I noticed in the final lap that Remco was the stronger rider. He showed that in the sprint."

It was another sprint that Van Aert didn't win, resulting in another place of honor and no victory or top podium spot in a Monument. The always honest Van Aert said: "I felt good today and helped break open the race. I was surprised that there was such a large selection so early on and that such a small group formed at the front. It all looked promising."

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While laughing, Van Aert said, "It might have been better to finish in a large group because it was no walk in the park riding on Remco's wheel." However, this was an important part of the Brabantse Pijl sprint, and there was a lack of his normally impressive power in the sprint. “The only explanation for today is that I suffered enormously in the last kilometers and pushed myself beyond my limit in the sprint.

The explanation for all the other spring sprints had, of course, been sought for some time, but even after the Brabantse Pijl, van Aert was still unable to provide a clear answer. "I would love to be able to tell you why the sprint has been lacking a little this spring. It's not that we've been working on it differently; it's just not coming out in the races."