Van Aert baffled by puncture on road return: “That smells like sabotage”

Visma | Lease a Bike controlled large parts of the 194-kilometre semi-classic with a strong line-up, and the yellow-and-black squad seemed to have the race under control deep into the finale. When the attacks started flying, there was consistently a Visma rider present, and Per Strand Hagenes even looked to be riding away towards a superb solo win for a long time.

That scenario would have suited Van Aert perfectly: Hagenes forcing others to chase, while Van Aert could stay relatively fresh in the bunch and prepare for a sprint if the move was brought back. But with around ten kilometres to go, Van Aert was suddenly off his bike — he had punctured. He briefly continued on teammate Pietro Mattio’s bike, but the chance of a result was gone.

Van Aert explained that the timing of the incident made it especially frustrating. Behind the front group, the chase was disrupted and he ended up stuck between groups, meaning there was no realistic way back into contention.

What bothered him most, however, was how it happened. Van Aert said there was “suddenly” glass in the final lap on roads they had been riding all day, and that the situation “smelled like sabotage” — while stressing he was not claiming it was directed specifically at him.

Even so, Van Aert took positives from the day. He said he would have liked to contest the finale to see how far he could get in a sprint, but physically he felt reasonably good. The Belgian also referenced the setback that cost him Opening Weekend, describing it as a heavy bout of flu, and called it a shame that he lost training and racing time. Despite that, he said Tuesday’s sensations were encouraging.

Van Aert briefly looked ahead too: Strade Bianche is next on his programme on Saturday 7 March, though he admitted this was not the ideal run-in he had pictured. Still, he intends to make the best of it and continue building step by step.

Bram van der Ploeg ( X: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])