"There is definitely a weight off our shoulders": Visma staff member details the nervous wait behind Van Aert's historic Paris-Roubaix win

For years, Paris-Roubaix has delivered nothing but heartbreak and frustration for Wout van Aert. Despite being one of the strongest riders in the entire professional peloton, the biggest prize in one-day racing always seemed to slip through his fingers due to bad luck or bad timing. But this Sunday, the Belgian star finally crushed his cobblestone demons, outsprinting Tadej Pogacar in the velodrome. The victory changes the entire story of Van Aert's spring season, giving him a massive Monument win and proving that persistence eventually pays off.

When Wout van Aert was storming toward the famous velodrome to sprint against Tadej Pogacar, not everyone in the Visma | Lease a Bike team was able to watch the action live. Mathieu Heijboer, a key member of the team's coaching and performance staff, experienced an incredibly nerve-wracking finish to the race.

Speaking to Wieler Revue after the dust had settled, Heijboer opened up about the wild final hour of the event. He was stationed next to a cobblestone sector far away from the finish line, trying to manage his rider's needs.

"It was very stressful of course in the final phase," Heijboer explained about the chaotic ending. "I was standing on a sector forty kilometers from the finish. Before you can get away from there, you are already twenty minutes further along. The TV picture also dropped out... Luckily, we have group chats to keep each other informed."

Because he lost his video feed, the coach had to wait for text messages to find out if years of hard work had finally paid off. He eventually found out that his star rider had won the sprint on the track through a very simple message.

"We were trying to watch and I did see the sprint, but that was with a delay," he laughed. "I eventually read it in a text message that contained a long 'yesssssss'. But hey, the sooner I knew, the better, haha."

Beating a rider like Pogacar in a direct sprint after 258 kilometers is a massive achievement. However, it was even more impressive considering the difficult winter Van Aert experienced. The team staff revealed that the Belgian star had to deal with an ankle injury during the off-season. While the injury did not ruin his overall fitness, it completely disrupted a very important part of his training program.

"We had a setback last winter due to that ankle," Heijboer revealed. "Not so much in terms of condition, but in terms of sprinting and strength training. But yes, things were going better and better in training. However, he had never done a sprint in a race yet. It was therefore based on feeling. In the race, he felt that he dared to do it. He played it perfectly."

Before the riders even reached the track, they had to survive the most feared cobblestone sectors on the route. Many fans watching at home expected Van Aert to launch a massive solo attack on the brutally rough Carrefour de l'Arbre sector. Even Heijboer admitted that he was waiting for his rider to make a huge move right there.

"To be honest, I thought: why isn't he going?" the coach admitted. "I had the idea that he was stronger, but Wout is someone who always has a structured plan in his head. Luckily, that worked out."

Instead of wasting energy on a risky solo move, Van Aert stayed calm, trusted his sprint, and let the race unfold exactly as he wanted. "I saw quickly that he was okay," Heijboer noted. "The moment he rode alertly onto the first sector and rode at the front everywhere, I knew that this was the Wout who is really good. I already knew it from the training sessions, of course. We were convinced that this is simply the best Wout we could see."

"There is definitely a weight off our shoulders," Heijboer concluded with obvious relief. "It has been a massive journey to win this one. And yes, we wanted to win this one with Wout the most. That it all comes together on this day is simply fantastic."