Knetemann worries about Van Aert’s spring ambitions: “It’s not all about good watts”

Visma | Lease a Bike appeared to have things well under control in the demanding second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The yellow-and-black squad had a strong block near the front of the peloton, but when the race was decided on the tricky gravel sector, Van Aert was nowhere to be seen and Jorgenson crashed deep in the finale.

Van Aert then powered his way back impressively and emptied himself for Jorgenson’s general classification ambitions. The American finished 17 seconds behind stage winner Mathieu van der Poel and can therefore still dream of a strong GC result later in the week. The big question, however, was this: how did Van Aert end up missing the front of a finale that looked tailor-made for him?

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At In Het Wiel, Roxane Knetemann and journalist Daniël Dwarswaard noted that Van Aert was squeezed out of position in the final kilometres before the gravel sector. According to Dwarswaard, that is not the first time it has happened. “Van Aert has already been through so much in his sporting life, so that definitely plays a role. But so does the stage of life he is in now, with children and his wife.”

The suggestion was that Van Aert no longer seems willing to take risks at all costs. In today’s peloton, Knetemann argued, that can be fatal. “Crashes are part of cycling, but at some point that settles in your head. One way or another, all those crashes pile up on your SIM card. You try to push that fear as far away as possible, but at certain moments it can open up again.”

Knetemann said it is “very difficult” in that kind of mental situation to still stay at the front in dangerous moments. “That is something Van Aert is going to run into with his spring ambitions. Because in those races, everything depends on positioning. It’s not all about good watts, but about where you are able to use them.”

“If that is from 100th place, then the bird at the front has already flown,” Knetemann continued. “Van Aert is already just a little below Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar, and if you then also position yourself less well, you simply cannot afford that. Not really against the whole peloton, but especially not against the two names we are talking about now.”

Before the start of stage 3 at Tirreno-Adriatico, Van Aert stopped to speak to the Belgian media. There, he admitted there was disappointment after Tuesday’s stage. “I was totally out of position at the most important point of the race,” he said critically. Van Aert pointed to “a tricky descent” as one reason, but also spoke of “a couple of wrong choices” when trying to move up.

In the end, Van Aert still moved up impressively and was able to do important work for Jorgenson. “But we would rather have been there with two riders to fight for the stage win,” said the Belgian, who also noted that he had “good legs,” something backed up by the way he got back among the favourites in the chasing group. Van Aert himself did not speak about any fear when it came to positioning.