“It was far from a flawless sprint, but we expected that" - Wout van Aert blows out the cobwebs with leadout for Olav Kooij in Almeria

In his first road outing of 2024, Wout van Aert put in an expert leadout to help fire his Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammate, Olav Kooij to victory at the Clasica de Almeria on Sunday afternoon.

Despite the win and the impressiveness of van Aert's leadout in the finale, the Belgian was far from totally pleased by the showing. “It was far from a flawless sprint, but we expected that," van Aert reflected honestly in his post-race interview.

"That's a mistake you might make in your first race of the year" - Olav Kooij almost sees victory snatched away by premature celebration in Almeria

Despite the fact it was 'far from flawless' and even the fact that a premature celebration from Kooij almost saw the victory snatched from him right at the line, victory nevertheless went the Dutch sprinting prodigy in Almeria.

"We controlled the entire race and finished it, so I'm happy," concluded van Aert's assessment of his return to road racing. "It was a good race to start with. In the final I was able to move up and sprint well for Olav.”