Van Aert was 'completely exhausted' after recovery efforts by De Lie and points out two mistakes during EC: "But that’s in hindsight..."

Wout van Aert second, we've seen that before. Yet, his silver medal at the Men’s European Cycling Championship was quite different from, say, the silver at the World Championship in Glasgow. The Belgian addressed the press extensively after the race, including IDLProCycling.com, not seeking excuses but praising others instead.

Van Aert could almost taste the title, he admits candidly. Soloist Christophe Laporte seemed to just fall short when Arnaud De Lie did an incredibly strong lead-out for his compatriot and Olav Kooij. Van Aert and Kooij caught up, but that’s where it ended. "I don’t know why I lacked that last bit of strength to overtake Christophe. I thought I would get past him, but when the terrain levelled, my legs were empty while Christophe still had something left. My legs were killing me, the road was winding and I just couldn’t get past. Everyone was completely exhausted, Christophe from his attack and me from the lead-out by Arnaud, which already pushed me to my limit."

The Belgians had to devise a contingency plan when Laporte broke away in the last round, starting the last two climbs of the VAM-mountain with a ten seconds lead. De Lie decided to do the lead-out for Van Aert and did so in an unlikely manner. "I undoubtedly reached my peak before the sprint, but that was necessary to catch up," Van Aert comments. "I felt good throughout the finale, whereas Arnaud had a bit of a tough time keeping up. He told me we were going to play my card."

De Lie, who admitted after the finish line that he wasn’t as bad as he thought, led Van Aert to Laporte’s wheel. However, that was merely a patch job. "One of us should have been in the lead instead of Christophe, so maybe that's the first mistake we made. Now the choice was forced and Arnaud and I both showed how strong we still were. It's unfortunate, but had I overtaken him, it would have been a fantastic play. We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. Christophe took advantage of a moment of hesitation and before we knew it, the gap was too large. We couldn’t bridge it anymore. That was also a mistake."

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Van Aert praises Jumbo teammate Laporte

What remains is another silver medal, but Van Aert is quite accepting. "At the World Championship (won by Mathieu van der Poel, ed.) I didn’t see many scenarios where I could have won, but here maybe I do. Christophe went for it, but with the knowledge that he had to save something for the last 200 meters. It’s impressive how he pulled it off," the compliments resound.

That a group of strong riders couldn’t bridge the gap to Laporte in a full lap, should not be overanalyzed according to Van Aert. "You need to have raced to understand that. Moto drivers leading the way are also to the advantage of someone who dares to attack, so I won’t blame it on that. If everyone races full throttle without thinking, no one can stay in the lead. But you never want to bring back competitors while suffering more than others. This is the situation you enforce when you dare to attack."

Then there's the team versus country factor. Van Aert was upfront with Kooij and Laporte, but claimed to have no trouble chasing the Frenchman. "It's a tricky situation to chase him, but eventually you have a responsibility towards your countrymen, who have been riding for me all day. I can’t arrive at the bus and say I didn’t chase him, because he was a teammate. That's not how it works, I'm here in a Belgian jersey and was rotating with Arnaud in that group. But in a way that you can save yourself a bit, that's how it goes in a classic. I always had the idea that Christophe was within reach, but in hindsight, we should have made the decision to let Arnaud, Teunissen and Kron ride full throttle sooner. But that’s in hindsight..."

Van Aert does not want to hide behind the fact that the multiple winner was struggling with a severe stomach flu heading into the European Championships. Yet the question arises whether that flu cost him the little extra needed to become European Champion... "It's hard to say. I felt good and raced as I wanted to. Why I just couldn’t get past... It doesn’t make much sense to comment on that now."