Thomas Dekker believes Wout van Aert’s monument dream is dying: “Soon he will be happy to be second or third”
CyclingMonday, 31 March 2025 at 09:18
Wout van Aert endured a hugely underwhelming performance at
the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, failing to feature at any point in the decisive
moves. The race was completely dominated by Mathieu van der Poel, who rode away
from the field to take a commanding solo victory.
Van Aert, who had only just returned from an altitude
training camp, appeared off the pace throughout. His subdued display raised
eyebrows, particularly given how crucial this part of the Spring Classics
calendar is for the Belgian star.
Speaking on the Live Slow, Ride Fast podcast, former
pro Thomas Dekker expressed sympathy for Van Aert and lamented the absence of a
head-to-head battle between the long-time rivals.
"I'm a cycling fan and you want to see a fight,"
Dekker said. "Milan-Sanremo was beautiful because Pogacar couldn't get Van
der Poel off him, we've seen that duel so often in cyclo-cross. You want Van
der Poel versus Van Aert. I feel that more than with Van der Poel versus
Pedersen, because that has never really been a duel."
Having seen Van Aert return from training in the mountains,
Dekker had hoped for a strong showing to kickstart the next phase of his
Classics campaign. But with Van der Poel and Pogacar continuing to set a level
above the rest, he now fears the coming weeks may follow a similar pattern.
"You hope that he comes down from the mountain and
starts with a kick-start for the coming weeks. I hope not, but there is a big
chance that it will not work out next week. Van der Poel and Pogacar are better
than everyone, Van Aert has to make a big step."
Dekker also suggested that Van Aert’s attempts to influence
races in recent weeks have fallen flat, not through a lack of effort, but
through an apparent dip in power and sharpness.
"I see Van Aert lately occasionally trying to get away
or close a gap, but he doesn't get there. He can't deliver the power to get
away or put something right. The chance that that will be different next week
is very small. Let alone that you are better than Van der Poel."
There is growing concern that Van Aert’s long-standing goal
of winning a cobbled Monument could be slipping further from reach. Dekker
warns that if expectations shift from winning to simply finishing on the
podium, it could represent a turning point in the Visma rider's career.
"Everything is focused on winning a Monument, but soon
he will be happy to be second or third. If that becomes the logic, there will
simply be a change in his career."
While still backing Team Visma | Lease a Bike to remain
competitive, Dekker admitted that expecting Van Aert to beat Van der Poel in
his current form might not be realistic.
"But I'm still looking at Visma winning that race, and
I think they'll be at the start like that too. Is that realistic? It doesn't
seem like it. I think he'll be very happy if he finishes second or third. I
hope that gives hope for an extra step in the future, because Van der Poel will
also be less good at some point."
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- Have you gone Mads? Jeez, this is the Giro, and apart from there being other races and riders not participating, there are over 150 riders with plots and subplots, including a thing called the GC for which I doubt VERY much he’ll come into contention. Are there no other stories or topics to propose currently? Does every article have to include MP? Comparisons to Wout, to Danes, how hell fare on every single stage. Soon Pogi will start feeling like he’ll have to do some publicity stunt to become relevant again. How about updating us on how his UCI ranking is evolving with all the frenzy?Mistermaumau13-05-2025
- I wonder if Mads' resurgence has something to do with Lidl-Trek electing to go with Jonathan Milan for Tour de France, thereby relegating Mads to the Giro and missing TDF for the first time in his career. The way he's performing now, he looks like he's out to prove he's still viable as top gun.FredMan13-05-2025
- Let's not forget that Pedersen won the Worlds in Yorkshire in true North of England conditions which are hell basically, when it's bad..
leedorney12-05-2025 - Vingo is the best Dane cyclist. He's the only one who beat Pogi two time in Tour de France.
James2631812-05-2025 - Its a pretty easy comparison, Jonas is the best. Look at his opponent the Best rider of his generation and 3rd best of all time Pogi who he has beaten twice in TDF. Pedersen cant even beat MVDP in monumentsabstractengineer12-05-2025
- Did the person who wrote this article catch any of last season and what happened? Cut the guy some slack and stop feeding of someone else’s hard times, the above article is pretty redundant.Jezla12-05-2025
- Hey, all great and deserving of respect but let’s not look at things too pinkly. He’s only just above Marc Hirschi in the UCI rankings. He’s had the potential to do this for the last 7-8 years, it’s just all come together at once, having his moment. Maybe he went on a secret HA camp :-) Seriously though, he’s NEVER said he doesn’t believe in it (challenge: find me that quote), he said he hates it in words that would get an F1 driver punished, and for the same reasons that his fellow countryman Jonas gets crucified for, being away from family (though given team budgets, there is an obvious solution to that). Besides, not very professional of media and pundits to linger on past out of date sayings, he’s more or less changed his mind in the meantime and is no longer categoric about refusing to try.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
- I don’t think that pays off in cycling, you never know when your next problem will happen, injury, illness, crash, and using so much time to prepare for a big goal risks being very disappointing in a short career.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
- I love Remco but this year is a write-off. The smart move would be to treat it all as preparation for next season.Renz12-05-2025
- What you forget about hunting is that time is on the side of the hunter. You’d be a fool to underestimate rivals who haven’t peaked and I doubt you’ll hear any riders including TP or JV brushing him off like you’re trying. He’s done one GT against them, his first, what were you expecting? Still way ahead of any other contenders and that as a first-timer.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
hoping wout can “kick start” his season at de ronde just shows why hope is a terrible strategy. the hardest race of the classics season with both pog and mathieu on stratospheric form. good luck. and waiting for mvdp to eventually be “not as good” isn’t a great plan either, i think. matthieu only seems to keep getting BETTER.
Reminds me of Jungels, instead of discovering what’s wrong, obsessing with getting back to form and making it worse. Could even be he’s built up this mental blockage due to concentrating too much on duelling with (a usually better) MVDP for 15y instead of doing his “own thing”. He was never as good in his head as when he was enjoying exploring his possibilities in the Tour when there was no risk of having to compete with his arch rival.
Too much amatuer psychology. How about this: "he was never as good as when he had not suffered multiple career-threatening injuries." What is happening to him is what happened to Alaphilippe, Bernal, and others. You will notice that his two major peers -- MVDP and Mads - are both at their all time best. You will also note that neither is coming off of anything like the same last 18 months that Wout is. Go back to 2022, then roll the tape forward with Wout remaining healhty and one of them having had multiple traumatic falls. Odds are good he'd be at his dominant best and they would not.
But you yourself are agreeing the crashing affected his psyche, or is that just me getting the wrong impression?
Hard to imagine that his confidence - that imperious flow state that great athletes operate in - hasn't been affected.
But that is a different dynamic than the one you described. He has not become hesitant because he is fixated on his rival. He has suffered multiple traumatic injuries, and I have no doubt he is still 1% off both mentally and physically as a result. Football (both kinds) and basketball players who blow out knees go through a predictable cycle in which they are reluctant to do max efforts even after their doctors have cleared them. I myself went though a small version of that after a back injury. It's just hard once you no longer know where the line is. We saw in his TT a couple weeks ago that he still has power, and for all the hand wringing he is still finishing in the top 10-20 of big races. But as we have seen with others, getting *all* the way back is not assured. I'm not ready to say he is done, but few riders who have been hurt as often and as badly as him remain at the top.
Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.
Yes, I agree but you’re taking risks writing such long posts here ;-) In that sense, the Tourless Primoz discussion is also pretty pointless as he virtually won a Tour (nobody would have counted on Tadej doing what he did at the last moment at that time and I guess it was bad karma for Primoz for so ofren cutting things so fine).
I think you over interpreted my original thesis, it was not for trying to explain his current state, it was to suggest there was already mental material pre-crashes that has helped worsen his state, when it rains it pours. I really do remember having the feeling in that past he was more focused on not letting MVDP get better than him than doing his own thing. The seed of doubt was already planted and it doesn’t take much for doubt to grow in all sorts of directions.