"That's the cancer of our current society" - Tadej Pogacar jumps to support Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert continues to face mounting criticism in the Belgian media following his performance at Dwars door Vlaanderen. But just as Demi Vollering stepped in to support the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider on Wednesday, today it was Tadej Pogacar who came to his defence.

“I didn't see it, but I did hear what happened', Pogacar said. “That's how it goes in a race. They made a mistake and that can happen. Neilson was also just very strong. Wout makes a good impression on me and I think he will be fine for Flanders, which is his big goal. He always manages to find extra energy for the big races and I expect him on Sunday too.”

“There is a lot of pressure on us,” said the Slovenian star. “Someone like Wout doesn't ride many races, but when he does, they are big races and the pressure is on him. Then he has to perform. With three against one, it is of course also annoying, but on Sunday he won't think about that anymore.”

Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, also addressed the tone of public criticism, particularly from online sources, and offered a firm opinion on the role of social media.

“Social media? That's the cancer of our current society,” said Pogacar. “You can spend the whole day on social media and there are certainly positive things about it, but the negative things stand out. It can ruin your day and that's really not worth it. You shouldn't give social media and the news – no offense to you guys – too much attention. That's the easiest thing to do.”

Vollering, who had spoken up for Van Aert the day before, admitted she too had initially found humour in Visma’s unexpected defeat, but her perspective changed upon watching the race again and hearing Van Aert’s emotional interview.

“I also had to laugh a little when I first heard that Visma lost while they were in the leading group with three,” Vollering wrote on Instagram. “But after I watched it back and heard the interview with Wout, I changed my mind. We must not forget that we are all human. We like a bit of drama, and we like underdog stories. Wout is also human. And he has been through a lot.”

“Everyone has an opinion about him. We all judge too soon, we tend to forget everything that happened to him. And we probably don't know half of it because we can't look into his head, or understand what it does to him mentally. That he says it was selfish that he didn't act the way he is, that hurt me. We forget so easily how much stress, doubt and all the crap that is thrown at him does to him.”