Wout van Aert doesn't blame Thibau Nys after crash in final lap: "A fan was hanging completely over the course"

Wout van Aert concluded his first cyclo-cross of the 2024/2025 winter Friday in fourth place. On the last lap, the Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike crashed after a collision with a fan, ultimately resulting in him narrowly missing out on the podium in the race won by rival Mathieu van der Poel. "Too bad, but it was great," he said afterward.

Van Aert did not set himself many definite goals beforehand. "I can't be dissatisfied. I have nothing to prove, and I'm just looking forward to competing again and challenging myself. Going at full speed, that's the goal," he announced a little after 11 AM after arriving in Loenhout. He also confessed that he felt a bit nervous on his first day in the field.

"That's always the case when you race again after a long time. Not necessarily for the performance because I don't have the greatest expectations. But there is always a lot on your mind before the race. There is also a technical aspect to cyclo-cross: I haven't raced at that speed for a long time. That gives some stress," Van Aert said.

And he did go at full speed: the Belgian dived into the field first. "I wanted to get away, but finding the right rhythm took a long time. I thought: it starts badly here. But all of a sudden, there was room on the left, and so, unexpectedly, I entered the field in the lead after all," explained the crowdpleaser - there were about 15,000 people in Loenhout - afterward.

Read more below the video!

Van Aert can't blame Nys: "He did a nice maneuver"

"I had a good feeling, which was satisfying," he analyzed afterward. "I felt comfortable in that first lap. But when Mathieu accelerated, I noticed that, technically, I could not follow. I tried to rejoin one more time, but that would not happen. Luckily, I had a good partner at Thibau Nys. That's how we got back to Sweeck."

So, there seemed to be a nice fight for the podium until Van Aert suddenly crashed. What exactly happened there? "It certainly wasn't Thibau's fault - he made a nice maneuver to get to the front. Only I was outside the corner. And there was a fan hanging completely over the course. Unfortunately, I collided with him."

"Too bad because I could have been competing for second or third place. But oh well, I'm satisfied with how it went. I had a successful day," he concluded his recap.

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