"I said to myself: now it’s time to switch" - Wout van Aert enters Tour of Flanders with new tactics in mind
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Wout van Aert enter the Tour of Flanders in the role of outsiders, and will have to innovate or surprise if they want to take the win against colossal rivals such as Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar.
“It remains very special to receive so much encouragement so early and far before the final. You really don’t get used to that. I did get a bit nervous because of that presentation. But I also enjoyed it immensely," the Belgian admitted to Wielerflits before the start of today's race.
After Dwars door Vlanderen, van Aert's decision proved to be a big mistake and he couldn't get the confidence boost he was looking for. That changed things ahead of today's race: “We had a good debriefing. On Thursday morning I said to myself: now it’s time to switch. Then I spent three long days looking forward to this moment.”
One potential tactic is to try and break the peloton as they did earlier this week and try a collective attack, but “that is very difficult in the Tour, but we showed on Wednesday that that is our way of racing. We have been successful very often. That will stay in the back of our minds". They did manage to leave Mads Pedersen in the dust on that occasion, so the chances of succeeding with such a move do exist even against the 'big two'.
Echelons are also a possibility, with the wind that is felt today. However van Aert points that the unusual wind direction may actually play a big role in the finale of the race. "Very often you have a south-westerly wind in Belgium, now an easterly wind," he points out.
"That is not to the advantage of the escapee, but the race is so tough that everyone is often exhausted on that last section after the Paterberg. But there are more sections in the final where the wind is now against you, where it normally isn´t. That could influence the race, yes.”
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- Good choice of profile picture by the way :-)Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Bolt was an outlier, for some people it can’t exist. Funny thing is 3 generations later, a lot of amateurs reach the level the average pro had. Ok, maybe counting from today it might be 5 or 6 generations because we won’t all have access to the equipment and staff and assistance pros now need to perform.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Actually, I’ve not noticed that fans have even noticed results are provisional so as far as the sport itself goes, I wouldn’t worry too much. Obviously some riders will miss out on celebrating but then these days, they’re all paid so well that it’s quite a small price to pay. Andy Schleck certainly didn’t get to party like he was used to when he received Alberto’s trophy and titles, nevertheless, he’s in the books and I’m sure he feels like and gets treated like a tdf winner. CATCHING dopers is good for the sport, though at the moment I’d have no idea who to go looking for.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Someone like David Walsh, who was the point person in the Sky Team coverup? When there was money and fame in bringing down Armstrong, he went for that. Then he sold that crusader image to Sky. And then renounced them. The guy has made more money from athletes and doping without ever once competing himself, having to take drugs, or even stand for a single principle. He is no different than Novitzsky, who was pivotal in the Armstrong investigations, and helped put Marion Jones in jail. Now he is full-time in the coverup business for the UFC.
Barney10-04-2025 - Do you think that making results provisional for 10 years makes for good sport? Or in any way remotely fairer, or safer?Barney10-04-2025
- Christian Scaroni, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Simone Velasco ... Peripheral riders who have failed to make much impression so far in their carrier, suddenly starting to win everywhere, climbing with the best in weekly WT races. Aging riders years after their prime, now seen more often than none at the head of the peloton in the classics. Still, no what is talking about the Chinese candies in the roomBM10-04-2025
- It's easy to dismiss doubters. We need someone like David Walsh who dares to ask the hard question. In the mean time, I wouldn't worry too much about Tadej. Whether he dopes or not, at least, he's not a terrible person like LA Doper.
KerisVroom10-04-2025 - Pogi is an outlier. You cannot prove an outlier using the statistical data of average pros. If he releases the data, it will only cause even more suspicion. In 2020 TDF he was dropped by Roglic in the mountains. So how does he do the TT where in the flats he nearly beat Tom Dumoulin and beat everybody else on the climb by a ton. No matter what Pogi is too much of an outlier which can be proven by dataabstractengineer10-04-2025
- Sorry? Have you not noticed how many winners and others have been cancelled post event, not least from the Beijing and London Olympics? If that doesn’t qualify for practice generalisation in sporting procedure, what is, we’ve even gotten to the stage of pre-emptive barring under suspicion of possible doping. If you’re going to look at a problem like this seriously, don’t just look at what makes media headlines in the parts you pay attention to. There is probably a wiki list (very long) of athletes who were disqualified for substance irregularities post event, and each had the opportunity to their long and costly process to defend themselves, it just doesn’t make the news unless you’re already a megastar (in which case you’d be extremely stupid nowadays to risk it, but then again, many people, especially in sport, fall in or close to such a category.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Not comparing GT results but you should not forget guys like Kuiper, Kelly, Moser, who did pretty well in both.Mistermaumau10-04-2025