“I can’t escape it" - Wout van Aert knows that anything but a win in Roubaix will see him get targeted by local media

Belgium is the birthplace of many of cycling's best ever, and whilst it still does currently, it's no match for the 20th century's stars. Because of the country's history, tradition and large landscape of media, it's riders receive substantially more attention than in most other nations. This contributes to an environment of pressure and criticism for it's best riders, as Wout van Aert describes ahead of Paris-Roubaix.

“I can’t escape it. After a defeat, I can get stuck in my disappointment for a few days and have trouble getting over it, especially in one-day races," he admits in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws.

But this is not the case during the three-week races. "That is also a reason why I do well in the Grand Tours. I have already been advised: don’t read the newspapers, but literally everywhere I go, the baker or a friend’s, they will start talking about it.”

Born and living in Belgium, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has been throughout his whole career the big rival of Mathieu van der Poel. Whilst early in their career the Belgian often got the best out of the Dutchman, in recent years that has switched dramatically towards the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, both on the road and cyclocross.

But despite the many crashes and injuries that have hindered him, there is very little margin for error in the eyes of many for van Aert. The prsence of winners such as van der Poel and Pogacar, who seemingly win races merely on the fact that they are significantly stronger than everyone else, makes it hard for anyone else to take big wins in the spring classics where they are present. This, alongside what was a very modest spring and different approach to the monuments, saw van Aert be heavily criticized all the way into Flanders.

“The older I get, the easier it is," but he gives a clear example on how the focus in the Belgian media drifts towards him regardless of what happens in the races. “During the opening weekend, I had the feeling afterwards that the news was that I had ridden badly, while Soren Waerenskjold won the Omloop in a fantastic way. There was almost nothing about that in the newspaper on Monday.”