“I tried to tell him”: Unibet Rose Rockets’ Larsen on late-race duet with Van Aert

Niklas Larsen, the Danish powerhouse of the team, picked exactly the right moment to anticipate in Dwars door Vlaanderen alongside Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ and Thomas Gachignard of TotalEnergies. Once Wout van Aert bridged across from behind, however, the intensity went through the roof.

Larsen remained last, but eventually had to pass as well. Even so, he entered the mixed zone wearing a broad smile, despite finishing 59th at almost three minutes from winner Filippo Ganna of INEOS Grenadiers.

“I’m very happy. It was a great race. In the end I just needed slightly better legs, but I did everything I could,” Larsen said afterwards, still catching his breath. “We were riding really hard on the Eikenberg and then I heard on the radio that Wout was coming across. At that point I thought: that’s good for us.”

“We tried to work with him, but at the same time we also know how strong he is. That makes it difficult to know exactly what to do. I think he wanted to get rid of us on the Nokereberg,” Larsen continued. “So I gave absolutely everything to stay there, but maybe that’s also what killed me in the end.”

“I was hoping we could ride together all the way to the finish, but when he attacked I was completely empty. I even tried to tell him that I was doing everything I could, but in the end he rode away and my legs were gone,” Larsen said with a laugh.

So what does that feel like? “Just being able to sit on his wheel and ride a finale like this on his wheel is a dream in itself. More than anything, I’m happy I got to be up there with such a star. You really feel how strong he is and how long his turns are at the front: everything is harder and longer. And then when he attacks, you really have to dig incredibly deep.”

Where Van Aert unleashed his inner beast, Larsen tried to do the same. Still smiling, he said: “I really did my best to let my own inner beast out as well, and I trained very hard for that this winter. The fact that it’s coming out now is something I’m very happy about.” Larsen, who finished third at the most recent European Time Trial Championships, is continuing to show why Unibet Rose Rockets were so eager to bring him in.

After Larsen’s strong ride, the team almost got a top-ten result as well, but Lukáš Kubiš ultimately had to settle for 11th place in Waregem.