"There is no lack of ambition and confidence. But he is not the top favorite" - Wout Van Aert approaches E3 without unrealistic expectations
Cycling
Wout Van Aert last competed on the first weekend of March at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne but that race didn't go to his plan and thus the past three weeks were used to finetune the Belgian's form some more. This week the Classics campaign really begins and Van Aert will be in the position where he is expected to deliver results.
How was the spectacle of Pogacar, Van der Poel and Ganna at La Primavera viewed back on Tenerife? "A fantastic spectacle," Visma | Lease a Bike DS Mathieu Heijboer tells Het Laatste Nieuws. "That made it clear that two key players were already there one hundred percent for the coming weeks. And there is no doubt about who will be the absolute top favorites."
Analyst Jan Bakelants stated that the high level of competition has reached Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Heijboer: "It has mainly fueled Wout's motivation. Of course, it is a shame in a way that he could not be part of it himself, but it is not like we and he suddenly think: 'Oh, we have no chance at all anymore.'"
That doesn't mean that Team Visma | Lease a Bike doesn't have a lot of respect for their opponents. "We acknowledge and respect that Pogacar and Van der Poel have already shown some great things. But we're not going to make ourselves smaller because of that. Wout is also doing fine, mind you. We just have to wait and see how he'll feel in that first race."
Last year, Van Aert ran into a too strong Van der Poel at the E3 Saxo Classic. He ultimately ended up fighting himself more than his opponents. "That could well be the case again now," says Heijboer. "There is no lack of ambition and confidence. But he is not the top favorite for the victory, that much is clear. If Friday does not lead to what it should be, we will not lose any sleep over it."
"Because, again, we are following a long-term plan. In which we are working towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. And then the Giro d'Italia. Only then do we hope to score."
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Kind of the best time for it ;-)Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Very impressive today, promising for the rest of the season.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Roglic mirrored so many of his wins, but in GC: wait until the end, then pull a strong win from a tight group. What a great performance, a solo ride (so rare for him), and now he’s got over 90 wins. Amazing rider.RidesHills30-03-2025
- Proud to say I watched the race (Milan Sanremo 2025) live in Australia... at 12:30am-3:00am! No regrets!Pogboom30-03-2025
- Great picture, so alike and yet so different, Mads has the physique of a weekend amateur in comparison. You have to wonder how much better he could still be. I know it’s difficult not to be taken in by MVDP’s performances but it feels like reporting loses some of its purpose as a result, compared to other teams, we hardly hear about the Alpecin in-race work or riders.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- agreed. flanders is a beast. i like tadej, but i’m full on rooting for mathieu next sunday.OCexile29-03-2025
- Indeed, strong as ever on the flat, maybe stronger on climbs. There are very few records within reach for contemporary riders (Cabendish had to extend his career to get his and took twice as long as Merckx to equality), this would be one that would be very hard to take away.Mistermaumau29-03-2025
- I thought newspeak was condensing any statement into the smallest number of pertinent words.Mistermaumau29-03-2025
- flanders is mvdp’s favorite race and he’s one win away from being the lone record holder with 4 wins. i’d be very surprised if the gap that pogačar opened in him there 2 years ago wasn’t THE major focus of all his training. and when mathieu has a goal, he turns himself inside out to achieve it. we’ll see next week if he got there, but i’d agree with van avermat’s assessment of van der poel’s fitness.OCexile29-03-2025
- It’s almost like newspeak. It’s classics season, Pogacar’s main rival has always been van der Poel. Then grand tour season will begin, and we will pivot mid sentence and Pogacar’s main rival will have always been Vingegaard. What a season this promises to be. Let’s hope they stay healthy (and Vingegaard gets past the concussion).RidesHills29-03-2025