Not only Wout van Aert, whole Visma is as if paralyzed by fear of crashing: "That's also why Vingegaard didn't go to Itzulia"

There are not many reasons for happiness in the best team of 2023 - Visma | Lease a Bike. While Jonas Vingegaard is once again injured, the team's other star Wout van Aert was only a shadow of his past self at the cobbled Classics with merely places of honour. And the sky isn't more blue across the rest of Dutch formation. 

Jeroen Vanbelleghem is the first to question Van Aert's statements about 'bad form' in discussion on Kop over Kop show. "Finally, Wout van Aert was well positioned, in the Forest of Wallers, and then he stops his legs two or three times. Afterwards he said, 'I didn't have good legs'. But if you stop your legs, it's not because you don't have good legs."

Bobbie Traksel even thought that Van Aert had a flat tire in the Forest of Wallers. "That's what we were hoping for." Jan Hermsen counters that there was certainly something slowing down the Belgian, but not his bike: "It seemed like there was a brake somewhere in his head."

Of course, it could have everything to do with the earlier shock Van Aert experienced while exploring the cobblestones in the Forest of Wallers. He suddenly got a flat tire and could barely stay upright. At almost the same point in the race, he slowed down and fell further behind Van der Poel and Pogacar, among others.

According to Traksel, there is not only fear in Van Aert, but in the entire Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "They do not only give that fear to Van Aert, but also to Dylan van Baarle, where it is very clear to see. Also to Vingegaard."

There was one too many crashes for Visma leaders in last year and a half. "Fear was the reason Vingegaard didn't go to the Itzulia Basque Country. If you have a few riders in the team with fear like that, it only grows bigger."