“Wout is in a lot of pain, but given his serious injuries, he is doing well.” Grischa Niermann, team leader at Visma-Lease a bike, visited Van Aert in Herentals on Friday morning. “He is very sad because he misses the Ronde and Roubaix, but at the same time he was also very proud that the boys fought back after that heavy crash. Hopefully he can go home soon. It is still unclear when exactly that will be. Cyclists are very good at putting things into perspective and looking ahead, but Wout was not there yet.”
The exact cause of Wednesday’s serious crash is still unclear. According to Tiesj Benoot, who initially thought that Van Aert had tapped his rear wheel, it comes down to “driving to a point where no one wants to brake. Then sometimes accidents happen. Wout was hyper-focused. He would think it was strange that he would have tapped me.”
In any case, Van Aert does not agree that the descent to the Kanarieberg is too dangerous. “I talked to him about it,” Niermann said. “Wout says that every descent that goes straight down is dangerous because of the high speed that riders reach. You drive there at 70 to 80 km per hour. But such descents are part of it. This was just an unpleasant match incident.”
Eternally a shame
Visma-Lease a bike presented itself remarkably resilient on Friday afternoon in the Ghelamco Arena, to look ahead to the 108th Tour of Flanders. Yes, the Dutch formation has lost its absolute leader. And yes, all plans made can be thrown in the trash, but that does not mean that Matteo Jorgenson and co. will simply allow themselves to be led to the slaughter on Sunday.
“I still have very mixed feelings,” said sporting director Merijn Zeeman. “It’s an eternal shame. I’m sure Wout would have been the best Wout we’d seen yet. We want to take care of him and show that we are there for him, but at the same time we have to make the most of it on Sunday and next week in Roubaix.”
How does Visma-Lease a bike approach the Tour now? “We do not play the role of favorites, which is very different from many other competitions,” said Zeeman. “We can watch more from the second row and choose our moments. Mathieu is clearly the top favorite, but I think it is still possible to beat him.”
All on Jorgenson?
In addition to Van Aert, the Dutch formation is also missing Jan Tratnik and Christophe Laporte. Yet the line-up still looks solid, with Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Jorgenson, ex-Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle and Benoot as the main assets. They must try to make it as difficult as possible for Van der Poel. “Of course this is not the team we had in mind when we drew up the plans for the Ronde and Roubaix in October and November,” Niermann admitted. “But we still have seven very motivated riders. And they will fight for it.”
On Sunday we will primarily look towards Jorgenson. “He is currently the best of all our riders,” said Zeeman. According to Benoot, the Tour of Flanders suits the American even better than Dwars door Vlaanderen. “Certainly with his qualities as a climber. Just look at how Tadej Pogacar and Alejandro Valverde have performed here in the recent past. It is actually unbelievable how strong a team we can still field, despite the bad luck we have already had. We also received some messages from Wout, which motivates us even more. What does he send then? That he will be our biggest supporter on Sunday.”
And what does Jorgenson himself think? “Mathieu is on another level, but I am in the best team in the world, so you cannot rule us out.”
