Philippe Gilbert: "Wout van Aert should already have at least one Tour of Flanders and one Paris-Roubaix on his palmares"

For his all the success Wout van Aert has accumulated over the course of his career, the Belgian still has just one Monument win to his name. In 2025, Van Aert has made no secret the fact that his big goals in the Spring have been the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but after missing the podium in Flanders last week, is the pressure on for Roubaix?

The talk from within the Team Visma | Lease a Bike camp is remaining reservedly positive surround Van Aert and his chances on the iconic French cobblestones. In the opinion of Belgian Classics icon and 2019 Paris-Roubaix winner Philippe Gilbert though, it's hard to see just why Visma are so optimistic about their team leader, given his recent form.

“Honestly, I don’t understand why. As far as I can remember, Van Aert has been saying since October that this week was his goal. Flanders and Roubaix—that was his big target. But when he started racing again, he was far from his top level," questions Gilbert in conversation with Eurosport. "Was his preparation ideal? Wouldn’t it have been better to ride Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice instead of staying at altitude?”

As touched upon there, Gilbert believes Van Aert has needed to be racing more to hone his sharpness, rather than spending time at altitude. “To me, it feels like the final 3 or 4 percent he’s missing can only come from racing. So maybe we need to take a good look at the past few months and ask ourselves whether his race schedule was the right one," muses the 42-year-old. "He might be going into Roubaix in top form, but for Flanders, it was already too late.”

When it comes to whether or not Van Aert will be in the mix against the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Mads Pedersen among others however, Gilbert doesn't completely rule it out. “He’ll be there, but he hasn’t shown that he can really hurt the others," he previews. "I don’t see him pulling off a solo move in Van Aert style like he did at Gent-Wevelgem, E3, or Omloop.”

And the pressure is indeed on for the Visma superstar as he fights against the sands of time to claim a Monument win. “If he fails on Sunday, he’ll have to wait another year. He dreams of winning these races and I fully understand that. With his talent and engine, Van Aert should already have at least one Tour of Flanders and one Paris-Roubaix on his palmares,” Gilbert concludes.