"That was when I knew: stay on the wheel" - Wout Van Aert runs through tactics against Tadej Pogacar and special motivation

For many different reasons, yesterday's victory at Paris-Roubaix was very special to Wout Van Aert. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider long looked to win the third monument of the spring, and did so in a day where drama was constant throughout the final hours of racing.

The Belgian had his mishaps, with a badly timed mechanical in the final 70 kilometers, but not as bad as the ones that Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel had earlier in the race. He pushed in Arenberg and Mons-en-Pévèle, splitting the favourites' group twice, but after that second attack he had the response of a Pogacar that still had the legs to make a difference.

“That was the moment I decided to stay on his wheel on the cobblestones, so that I wouldn't be attacked from behind anymore. In that corner, I realized for a moment why Tadej is the strongest man in the entire peloton," Van Aert said in an interview with Wielerflits. "It was a good attack from him that I could only just respond to. That was when I knew: stay on the wheel.”

He looked to collaborate with the World Champion, however he did so more conservatively than Mathieu van der Poel did the week before. But without the climbs, Pogacar now struggled to make the difference, and the two had to bet on a sprint otherwise they would be caught by the chasers.

"After Carrefour [de l'Arbre], the realization hit me: from then on, I truly believed that this could be my year. That was when I knew that when it comes down to a sprint in a race like this, anything can happen".

"Did I feel stronger than ever? Not really. It would be a nice story to say that now, but the truth is that I felt very good in other years too. But then the circumstances didn't fall my way. But that knowledge did give me what I needed to finish it off this time.”

This is a race that also has a lot of meaning for him, as he lost his teammate Michael Goolaerts back in the duo's debut in 2018. It is something that always stayed with him and provided a little extra.

“Losing a teammate in a race… It was an extremely sad day in 2018. Personally, I rode a good race back then; I felt that Roubaix was something that really suited me. But at the same time, something so cruel happened. Since then, it has been my goal to win this race and be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael".

He's done so this time around, sprinting to victory in the Roubaix velodrome, where often he arrived frustrated with the result. "He is often in my thoughts, especially every year around this time. This year even more so than usual. For me, it was the first edition where we rode past the sector where he died again".

During the reconnaissance, I already got goosebumps when we passed it. I like to believe that Michael gave me a little extra strength on Sunday. It is something good and beautiful that I can dedicate this victory to him and his family. We are trying to get the flowers there. His family can decide where they will be placed.”

In January, Team Visma | Lease a Bike announced they would put more emphasis on the monuments as a whole, not just the cobbled ones. Wout Van Aert rode a different calendar and at Milano-Sanremo he made it onto the podium. As it turns out, he carried his form perfectly throughout the spring and has his best legs once again this Sunday.

The team has won its monnument, in a year where its lineup for the classics seemingly looked more modest. “It feels like a huge relief. I know that this was Richard Plugge’s dream, to win Paris-Roubaix. I can understand that I was always the one who had to do it in the last editions".

"I feel proud to finally complete that work of years of investment," he admits. "But also the work of the guys who stood at the start line with me. We were right on top of it, certainly with Christophe Laporte in the final and also behind him. A very good day for us.” It's a day that shrugs away a lot of pressure which has built up throughout the past few years, in which Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel took an overwhelming leap in the classics.

“I am filled with pride. Winning Paris-Roubaix means everything to me. We make so many sacrifices to reach this level. To always fight back, with the goal every year of winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. To then finish it off like this in a sprint with Tadej Pogacar in his beautiful rainbow jersey as world champion… I don’t think there is a better way to do that. It is absolutely a dream come true.”