Wout van Aert’s smile and dark humour say everything after near-perfect effort falls short

The 31-year-old Van Aert had already looked very strong a few times this season, despite not having an ideal winter due to a small ankle fracture in January and illness in February. Even so, what he showed in Dwars door Vlaanderen was impressive, from his attack on the Eikenberg with 40 kilometres to go all the way to the finish, just behind the fast-finishing Ganna.

“It would have been nice if the finish had been 150 metres earlier,” Van Aert joked afterwards in the flash interview. It turned out not to be his only joke. “Third time unlucky,” he also said, referring to the terrible crash in 2024 and now just missing out again in his third participation. “I did everything I could and I was completely empty, so if someone then comes past me, that’s racing too.”

Van Aert may still win again one day, but for him the set of legs he was pushing around mattered much more. For a long time he still had support from earlier breakaway riders Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockers) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), but he also rode solo in the finale for a long stretch. “The pace was too low, so I accelerated. I thought it might be enough, but suddenly Ganna was there.”

A bit of black humour, then? “I didn’t end up in hospital, so I’m looking at it positively,” Van Aert said with a smile. He was clearly in a good mood, although of course he would have loved to win. “I can’t really blame myself for anything, looking back on it now shortly after the race. I opened up the race and after the Eikenberg I think I rode a very good finale.”

“My legs are really, really good. I’m very happy with how I’ve been feeling lately and with how I’m racing,” the Belgian concluded. Because riding away in Dwars door Vlaanderen, where things exploded very early and then stayed closed for a long time, was very difficult. “I really only looked ahead and focused on my effort. Then afterwards I would see where that brought me.”

So, second place. And Van Aert can build on that. “How ready am I for the Tour of Flanders? Uh, yes... very ready? I take with me that the legs are good, that I’m riding well over the cobbles and that in Christophe Laporte and Per Strand Hagenes I have two very good teammates. A lot of positives.”

The fact that Ganna still came around him was less positive. Even though the INEOS Grenadiers rider said he felt a little bad about it. “I don’t think he minded it that much, otherwise he should have thought of that earlier,” Van Aert concluded as well with a joke and a smile. Bring on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

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