Extremely disappointed Wout van Aert says he has to make 'silly' statements after his blunder in Dwars door Vlaanderen

Had Visma | Lease a Bike made a mistake in the final? "If you are in a group of four with three guys as a team, it is always a mistake if you don't win the race," Van Aert said in the flash interview afterward. He held himself completely responsible for not winning the race. "I am fully responsible for this loss. It was me that made the call to go for the sprint. I told Matteo and Tiesj to control the race in the final and bring me to the finish line. I was confident I could win the sprint, but I cramped completely. Neilson Powless turned out to be stronger."

It reminded me of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where Ian Stannard beat three Quick-Step men. They messed up by attacking. However, aiming for a sprint was not the right choice, as 30-year-old Van Aert sees. "It's a mistake because we are too selfish in the final. I wanted this victory so badly, especially after all the criticism and all the bad luck I have been through last year. For once, I was thinking about myself; I didn't want to take the risk that we messed around too much and that a teammate would win the race. That is a huge mistake. That is not who I am, so I am extremely disappointed."

By aiming for the sprint, Van Aert sabotaged his own team and was very harsh with himself. "You have to maximize your chances of winning the race as a team, and we did not do that. I am responsible for that. I made that decision against my better judgment and said quite early in the final that I would like to be guided to the finish and that I would finish it. I did not do that, so now I must take responsibility and be hard on myself."

The team car also supported their leader's decision, which, in hindsight, was not the right choice. Why didn't the sports directors intervene? "Because I was so convinced of myself, they backed me. They are not to blame for this mistake." Breaking away was by no means a sure thing for a win. "No, but then we would have had no one to blame but ourselves. If we had done that in the last 10 kilometers and then been beaten, we would have applied the right tactics. Now, we played our hand too easily. I can't justify that."

A tiny ray of hope: Visma | Lease a Bike dominated the race, with a breakaway 70 kilometers from the finish. The four rode towards the leading group and then went full steam ahead with Jorgenson, Van Aert, and Benoot. It may be a good indication for the Tour of Flanders, where something is still possible. "That's true, but the outcome is not good for me. It will take me a while to see it in a positive light," a sad Van Aert concludes.

After the awards ceremony, Van Aert, the race's runner-up, had to return for an extensive chat with the press. "I am incredibly disappointed, and I take responsibility. It's simple: I really wanted this victory, and I made the choice to sprint. It was selfish because I was afraid that I would end up in a scenario where I couldn't win. I wasn't thinking about the team's interests or maximizing our chances as Visma | Lease a Bike."

The question 'why?' lingered in Van Aert's mind. "I've had a tough year, so to speak. I have received a lot of criticism and wanted to win this victory as a response. We had a perfect scenario, and it's silly to say, but I was afraid I would end up behind a teammate. That's not good; that's not who I am. I will take this lesson with me."

"Of course, I didn't expect to get cramps," he continued. "It was a tough race, and we were all exhausted, but Neilson had just a little more left to give. I'm extremely disappointed." What was he thinking after the finish? "I couldn't believe what had happened, but above all, I was in real pain because I was cramping so badly."

Like Van Aert, sports director Grischa Niermann took the blame, but the Belgian did not want to hear it. "Grischa is a great sports director who always stands up for us. That's to his credit, but I think it's natural that he follows that decision if I say we will do it this way. I am one of the team's leaders, and we did not leave that choice up to him because then it would have been different."

Is there anything else that gives you a good feeling? Definitely. "We wanted to turn things around. We have spent too much time playing catch-up. We saw some of that in Gent-Wevelgem, but then Olav crashed. Now it was time to continue that trend and take the lead, which is what we did. Are there any encouraging signs? Yes and no, I don't know how long it will take to process this."