Vollering sympathizes with van Aert: "When people have so much to say about you, it is easy to start feeling lost"

"Yep, I was also laughing a bit when I first heard and then saw that Visma lost while being in the break with three…," Vollering responded to Wednesday's race via Instagram. "But after watching it back once more and hearing Wout’s interview, I changed my mind. We should not forget that we are all human. We love a bit of drama. We love underdog stories. Wout is human as well. This guy has been through a lot! And everyone has had their opinion about him. We all judge too early, especially too easily. We are tempted to forget everything he has been through, and we probably don’t even know half of it because we cannot look inside his head or understand what it does to him mentally."

Afterward, Wout van Aert shared his thoughts: he had decided to go for the sprint himself, and that backfired. The Belgian said he held himself 100% responsible because he acted out of selfishness. "Hearing him say that he was egoistic and that it is not who he is was painful for me, because we forget so easily what stress, doubt, and all the mess thrown at him actually do to him."

If you look at the past few years, it's not a surprise that Dwars door Vlaanderen went completely wrong for Van Aert. "For me, it is completely understandable that he lost himself a bit. When people have so much to say about you, it is easy to start feeling lost. And it is probably something you do not even notice. It creeps in very quietly. You train a bit harder, focus a bit more, and before you know it, you make the wrong decisions and you cramp up. Maybe it was not the body. Maybe it was the mind that got too excited. But you did not stay true to yourself, so this win was not meant to be."

"It's a lesson. A wake-up call for Visma and Wout, but not only for them. It's a lesson for all of us. He is human. We're all human." Vollering knows all too well what it's like to be in Van Aert's shoes: during the World Cycling Championships in Zurich, the Dutch made mistake after mistake in the hunt for that coveted rainbow jersey. "I think I have also been in this situation. You think you make the right decisions, but under too much pressure, under too much focus, you can't see it right anymore. And you never realize it in the moment."