Lucky break, but only after a crash: how an unfortunate teammate helped Wout van Aert onto the Sanremo podium

Van Aert crashed, just like Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, in the approach to the key point of Milan-Sanremo. While Van der Poel and eventually Pogačar were quickly back on their way, that was less true for Van Aert. It looked like his race was over.

Nothing could have been further from the truth, as Van Aert still found himself shining on the podium in Sanremo later on. “I was unlucky because I didn’t get a new bike immediately after the crash,” he said afterwards about the incident. And on the team effort that followed: “The guys rode in front of me and around me, so I had to go for the best possible result. I spent the whole finale chasing the race and only realised late on that I was riding for the podium.”

In the end, there turned out to be a small stroke of luck amid the bad luck, both literally and figuratively. Grischa Niermann explained it this way: “At one point they were a minute down. When Matteo Jorgenson also had to change bikes, they came together and were then able to start the Cipressa side by side. But they were still a long way behind the peloton.”

That proved to be the rescue. “Matteo was super strong, right on the limit,” said Van Aert. Together, the two of them stormed up the Cipressa and set the third-fastest ascent time as a duo, or fourth if you also count Van der Poel alongside Pogačar and Ganna from last year, according to Strava .

“At that point we had lost the overview, because they were no longer on screen,” Niermann said, describing the view from the Visma | Lease a Bike team car. “But we told everyone to wait, except Christophe and Victor, in case they could still do something after the Cipressa. In the end that worked out very well, because Victor brought him back.”

Even after a third place in Sanremo, the Dutch team kept its feet on the ground. “Wout is a great champion and a very, very good rider, even if that has not really come out yet this season. Here he has shown again what a strong rider he is.”

“But there is no point arguing that Pogačar and Van der Poel are stronger, and that they will also be stronger in the Classics. Still, I do think a little bit of pressure has come off Wout.” At the same time, Niermann was realistic: “Pogačar rode away from everyone and won, so there is nothing to argue with there either.”

“We try to keep expectations as low as possible, but especially in Belgium they are simply sky high. You probably feel that in a moment like this, even though half an hour earlier everything had gone completely wrong. I think we raced brilliantly as a team, given the circumstances.”