Jan Bakelants claims Wout van Aert "was the moral winner" of Amstel Gold Race 2025

The 2025 edition of the Amstel Gold Race was a real thriller as Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose did battle for the race win, with the latter somewhat suprisingly coming out on top. According to ex-pro Jan Bakelants however, it was Wout van Aert - who crossed the line 34 seconds later in 4th - who leaves the race as "the moral winner."

“Among the mere mortals, Wout van Aert was the moral winner of the race,” explains the 39-year-old Belgian, who himself never finished higher than 13th in his nine career participations at the Amstel Gold Race, in post-race analysis for Belgian broadcaster Sporza. “He managed to win a sprint after a tough day in the saddle, against quick guys like Michael Matthews and Tom Pidcock. Sure, it was for fourth place - but it’ll do Wout a world of good.”

Van Aert has indeed struggled with his sprint in recent weeks, losing out to riders you'd never normally see beat such as Neilson Powless at Dwars Door Vlaanderen and Evenepoel himself at Brabantse Pijl. Could this explosive final kick to claim 4th on Easter Sunday be a sign that things are turning around for the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader?

“That was a strong sprint. You can’t just brush it aside,” Bakelants insists. “I think his confidence in his sprint had dipped so low that this is a massive boost. We’ve seen in the big ‘Sunday races’ like Flanders and Roubaix that Wout has often been on the back foot. He still made it into the sprint for the podium, but kept getting beaten - especially by Mads Pedersen.”

“Matthews is the kind of guy who can still pull out a strong sprint after a hard race. He took fourth in Milano-Sanremo in a sprint that included Kaden Groves," concludes the experienced Belgian. "So when Wout gets the better of him in Amstel, it means something.”