{"id":7854,"date":"2025-03-06T10:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7854"},"modified":"2025-03-27T10:45:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T09:45:28","slug":"has-wout-van-aert-lost-the-heart-for-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/03\/06\/has-wout-van-aert-lost-the-heart-for-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Wout van Aert Lost the Heart for Racing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have always loved Wout van Aert. He was bold, strong, fast, equally adept at road racing and cyclocross, and he brought a boyish enthusiasm and fearlessness to the sport. We were delighted when he won the Tour de France \u0160koda Green Jersey in 2022 while helping his Jumbo-Visma leader Jonas Vingegaard win the Yellow Jersey. And we cheered when he won the most difficult of all Classics, Milan-Sanremo, and the Strade Bianche in 2020, and then the Amstel Gold Race and Gent-Wevelgem in 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We also understood that the more he was asked to work for Vingegaard and his team, the fewer would be his chances for individual victories. His last Classics victory came in 2023, in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and his last significant wins of any kind were the three stage wins in last year\u2019s Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a \u2013 before a horrendous crash<\/a> on a descent on stage 16 put an end to his quest for another Grand Tour green jersey, which he was poised to win.<\/p>\n

That was van Aert\u2019s second serious crash of the year, after he fell on an ascent in the Dwars door Vlaanderen in late March, which put him out of commission for two months. Two serious crashes in a year are a lot of misfortune, and recovering requires patience and hard work and, perhaps most important, the ability to put it all behind you. But that may become more difficult with age. And I wonder if, at age 30, van Aert may have lost the ability to rebound from severe setbacks.<\/p>\n

Fear of sprinting?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I say this based on the evidence I have seen so far. It\u2019s early days still, of course, but from what we\u2019ve seen of the Belgian, he seems to be far from his best and worryingly risk-averse, as if he has lost confidence in his ability to handle a bike. In both Saturday\u2019s Omloop Nieuwsblad and Sunday\u2019s Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, he was often out of position at the back of the peloton and did not attack openings to make it to the front the way he used to.<\/p>\n

In addition, riding lead-out for Visma\u2019s elite sprinter Olav Kooij in the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, van Aert seemed to drop away early, before the sprinting heated up, which forced Kooij to use Jasper Philipsen and his lead-out, Kaden Groves (both Alpecin-Deceuninck), to secure a position. But he attacked too late and never looked like beating Philipsen.<\/p>\n

In his own few attempts to win a bunch sprint this year, van Aert has looked tentative and, frankly, a little scared of plunging into the mass of riders racing at top speed to the finish line. It is significant that his best result so far has been a second place in the ITT at the Volta ao Algarve \u2013 that is, in a race in which there was no possibility of clipping someone\u2019s wheel or being forced off the road or risking any of the 101 other mishaps that can lead to a crash. In that ITT, he was beaten only by Vingegaard, finishing well ahead of such excellent time trial riders as Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe) and Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers). That means that he\u2019s got the legs, but perhaps he hasn\u2019t got the heart.<\/p>\n

\"Wout<\/a>
Van Aert at the 2024 La Vuelta. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twice bitten, twice shy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maybe those crashes last year left a mark on van Aert\u2019s psyche, which is understandable and human. As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. And if you\u2019ve been bitten twice? But superstars are so-called because they have powers most humans don\u2019t possess, including the ability to forget setbacks no matter how painful \u2013 literally and figuratively \u2013 they were and then plunge right back into the messy, dangerous thick of whatever damaged them.<\/p>\n

Of course, I could be wrong \u2013 I hope that I am wrong \u2013 and van Aert is saving his legs and his courage for the big races to come, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, in which he\u2019ll be racing against the two best one-day riders in the world, Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Although he himself has already suggested that he had little chance of beating either of them.<\/p>\n

“I see few possible scenarios where you beat Mathieu and Poga\u010dar while you yourself are less strong,\u201d he said<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cIn my case, I would have to be at least their equal to have a chance.” Was that gamesmanship, realism or early surrender? We\u2019ll soon find out.<\/p>\n

The van der Poel itch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As for van der Poel, the seven-time cyclocross world champion made his road debut on Tuesday, in the Samyn Classic, and demonstrated that he is still a master of the road and brimming with confidence. He made two attempts at a solo attack with about 70km to go in the 199km race, but decided against it and then waited for the bunch sprint to make his move from the front. It was no contest, with only the up-and-coming 20-year-old Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) finishing within two bike lengths of van der Poel.<\/p>\n

“I was feeling pretty strong already during the race, but it wasn\u2019t hard enough to make a difference,” he said after the race. “I felt also a lot of people watching me, so I think at 50km from the finish line, I said to my teammates I was going to save my legs for the sprint, because I knew a finish like this is something I was capable of winning, and that\u2019s what I did. … With a finish like that, that climbs up a little, and the last five minutes with cobbles, it\u2019s very, very hard, so I knew it could be a chance for me to sprint. I opened my sprint with confidence, and it was enough to win.”<\/p>\n

Van der Poel was supposed to make his debut at next week\u2019s Tirreno-Adriatico, but he couldn\u2019t wait. \u00a0“If the itch gets too strong,\u201d he said Monday, \u201cyou just have to race.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s what van Aert is lacking now, an itch like that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have always loved Wout van Aert. 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