“At times he was scared” – Wout van Aert still feeling the impacts of 2024 crashes
Cycling
After a difficult 2024 season marked by crashes, injuries, and inconsistent form, Wout van Aert is under pressure to prove himself in what feels like a make-or-break spring campaign. Although his 2025 start has lacked fireworks, Visma's Mathieu Heijboer believes that the Belgian star is on the right trajectory, and ready to battle with the best once more.
Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Heijboer acknowledged the high stakes facing his rider this spring, as Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar continue to raise the bar in the classics.
“Van Aert will really not get more space from Van der Poel because he is busy with Pogacar,” Heijboer said, highlighting the suffocating pressure that comes with riding in an era dominated by two generational talents.
Despite a quiet showing at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Van Aert’s trainer remains optimistic that his form is building at the right time.
“He has grown mentally. He has gained a lot more confidence because he feels that his form is returning. We also have every confidence that he will fight for his position in the coming weeks as usual.”
Van Aert’s subdued performances during Opening Weekend raised eyebrows. For a rider who is usually aggressive from the get-go, something felt off, and Heijboer admits there were lingering effects from last season’s setbacks.
“At times he was scared. That all had to do with his heavy crashes in 2024. It was not a big issue within the team, but we did talk to Wout about it to make sure it doesn't happen to him again,” Heijboer revealed.
While Pogacar and Van der Poel continue to produce headline-grabbing performances, including an unforgettable showdown at Milano-Sanremo last weekend, Heijboer believes the cycling world has short memories when it comes to Van Aert’s capabilities.
“Wout was injured for a long time and was unable to compete last year. As a result, people have forgotten how good Wout is,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged the gulf that currently exists between the two top stars and the rest of the peloton.
“Although I do not deny that Van der Poel and Pogacar are above the rest and that we as a team had homework after the opening weekend.”
But Heijboer remains firm in his belief that Van Aert can rejoin the fight, starting with the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and moving into Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“But we are not lying on the ropes because they rode such a beautiful Milan-Sanremo and we are confident that Wout can compete with them,” he concluded.
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- Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
- Primoz finds ways to win. Too bad he'll never take Tour de France.awp01-04-2025
- I don't think I would ever count Wout van Aert out of a race if his head is in it. He is a serious talent.awp01-04-2025
- He's a great rider for sure, not sure if he the best to never win the Tour though.awp01-04-2025
- Hard to imagine that his confidence - that imperious flow state that great athletes operate in - hasn't been affected. But that is a different dynamic than the one you described. He has not become hesitant because he is fixated on his rival. He has suffered multiple traumatic injuries, and I have no doubt he is still 1% off both mentally and physically as a result. Football (both kinds) and basketball players who blow out knees go through a predictable cycle in which they are reluctant to do max efforts even after their doctors have cleared them. I myself went though a small version of that after a back injury. It's just hard once you no longer know where the line is. We saw in his TT a couple weeks ago that he still has power, and for all the hand wringing he is still finishing in the top 10-20 of big races. But as we have seen with others, getting *all* the way back is not assured. I'm not ready to say he is done, but few riders who have been hurt as often and as badly as him remain at the top.MidnightRider01-04-2025
- It’s quite a limited sport when it comes to stories, they have to try to make news.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- But you yourself are agreeing the crashing affected his psyche, or is that just me getting the wrong impression?Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Gee, they cant keep their mouths shut for 15 days! Talk after Roubaix if the man didnt deliver, not now.Caralladas31-03-2025