"As good as it gets" - Wout Van Aert confident and ready to set Dwars door Vlaanderen on fire

Wout Van Aert does not have the best history with Dwars door Vlaanderen, however he can very well change that this Wednesday in Waregem. The final cobbled classic before the riders reach the monuments is an important day of racing and with both Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel absent, the Belgian has a golden opportunity to try and take his first triumph of the season.

And as has been said this year, his spring does not revolve around the monuments alone - Van Aert wants to win, outside of them as well: "This race is also a major goal. It is a beautiful race and therefore very important," Van Aert said in words to Sporza at the start this morning in Roeselare.

This is the race in which 12 months ago, a decision to aid his sprinting chances led to an absolute disaster for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who did not attack the finale despite having a massive numerical advantage over Neilson Powless. At the time, a huge hit, but something the veteran put behind his back.

"I haven't actually thought about that much anymore, although it has of course come back to me a few times over the past few days. Everyone knows what happened last year. And that is also the beauty of racing, that it is unpredictable," is how he frames it.

This morning, the big news will have been that of Remco Evenepoel's debut in Flanders, which will make Van Aert's mission even more complicated. "He is welcome, I think it's great news. I hope it's not an April Fool's joke."

But Van Aert does not take to the start only focusing in Flanders. "Of course, it is somewhat connected, because you do take today's performance with you to Sunday. But this race is truly a goal in itself." Not only does he have a strong Visma team backing him up with several other options to take the victory, but also his form is sky-high after the performances he showed at Milano-Sanremo and Middelkerke - Wevelgem recently.

"It is as good as it gets," he assures. "In Flanders Fields was a beautiful race. I was able to race the way I like to. Today I hope to be decisive again and be able to compete."