Visma | Lease a Bike team boss on what's next for Wout van Aert: 'Maybe the ketchup bottle is open'

It went against him so many times — he had to swallow setback after setback — but Wout van Aert finally has his cobbled Monument. Moments after the finish, he threw himself into the arms of Visma | Lease a Bike team boss Richard Plugge, producing one of the defining images of the race. The Dutchman spoke at length to Belgian newspaper HLN about a Wout van Aert who still has plenty of goals left to chase this year.

When Van Aert crossed the finish line at the Roubaix velodrome with his arms aloft, it was a dream come true. "When we did a tour of our sponsors in America in November, I went for dinner with Wout in Los Angeles and we talked for a long time about goals and dreams. Winning Roubaix was his great dream," Plugge recalls.

The Belgian now has his cobbled Monument — which naturally raises the question of what is left to aim for. Retire at the top, perhaps? "Maybe Wout thought about that for an evening and a night after Roubaix, but he's a sportsman — and the day after, someone like that thinks: I've got a few more years in me and I want to experience more moments like this."

"Whether it will feel as intense again, I don't know," Plugge continues. "The second Tour de France win was also a little less intense for us, but that didn't make it any less beautiful or important." Retirement, then, does not appear to be on Van Aert's agenda. "Not for me, and not for Wout either. I know that when we go out for dinner in November again, Wout will have a few new dreams and goals — and they'll match ours."

So where should we look? "Winning Roubaix again. Despite his bad luck, Wout was still on the podium at Milan–Sanremo. Then you can win it too. The Tour of Flanders is still very much possible as well. Maybe the ketchup bottle is open, as they say so nicely in Flanders."

Winning the Ronde will of course not be easy, given that Van Aert has been beaten there repeatedly by Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, among others. How realistic is that goal really? "The Tour of Flanders is not a time trial. Tactics play a role, and sometimes luck too. With Hagenes and Brennan, we also have young riders coming through. Maybe the top three of the Ronde won't even be at the start in three years' time..."

Plugge is already thinking further ahead — but first there is this year to complete. Van Aert still has some beautiful goals on his calendar. "We want to win the Tour de France, and for that it will be all hands on deck — so we'll need the best Wout, one who can also win stages." Then, in the autumn, comes a major target.

Specifically: the World Championships in Montréal. "Wout said the Worlds is also a dream. I'm less focused on it because it's not really in my hands — it's in the hands of the Belgian federation — but we'll do everything we can to prepare Wout so that he's at his absolute best," Plugge concludes.