"I'm satisfied, and I should be," says a realistic Wout van Aert after 4th place in Tour of Flanders

Van Aert kept up with the pace in the final and was the best rider after the Oude Kwaremont, except for the eventual winner, Tadej Pogacar. "I am satisfied with how I was able to race. In the final, you hope to finish on the podium, of course, but it was a fair sprint," the Belgian said in the studio to Sporza shortly after the race.

"I am satisfied and should be because I finished where I belonged. It was nice to fight for the podium, but one rider clearly stood out," he repeated a little later in the mixed zone. "I worked hard for this. I would have liked to have been on the podium or won, but I had nothing extra to give."

"It boosts motivation. I felt great on the Oude Kwaremont, which was a super-tough final. We rode very well as a team and were always where we needed to be. Tiesj (Benoot, ed.) was well positioned at the front, which allowed Matteo (Jorgenson, ed.) and I to focus on following those guys."

Van Aert failed on the Paterberg, but he did show himself twice on the Oude Kwaremont. He even attacked before that slope. "I didn't collapse. When we got back in the race towards the Kwaremont, I didn't want just to let myself be passed. Actually, I didn't feel like it - my legs hurt; I would have preferred to take it easy for another 500 meters," Van Aert laughed. "But when you know how strong Pogacar is, I thought it would be smart to take a bit of a lead. And he did indeed go a bit faster. When you see how he rides everyone off their wheel: chapeau!"

"This was a main goal. I have nothing to complain about, and I rode the race as I wanted. Now I'm looking forward to next week," he says, looking ahead to Paris-Roubaix. "At the moment, it's gratifying that my hard work is paying off," says Van Aert, who can now confidently look forward to Paris-Roubaix.

"I have often felt good there in the past. Things didn't always go my way, but that's typical Roubaix. I'm looking forward to Sunday. I will complete two more good training sessions in the middle of the week. Then it's time to look forward to the next cobbled Monument," concluded the man from Visma | Lease a Bike, who will once again have to battle it out with Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Mads Pedersen in northern France.