"Those first one-day races you have cramps and then it gets better" - Sep Vanmarcke positive that Wout van Aert will still improve on Dwars door Vlaanderen

Wout van Aert, unlike Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar, did not race during early and mid-March, a gamble he took in order to have the best preparation for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Sep Vanmarcke aknowledges that this comes with it's pros and cons, but the Dwars door Vlaanderen fall-out isn't a decisive factor for the upcoming monuments.

"Nutrition will certainly play a role. If you see that the average speed was 46.6 km/h: then you don't get much time to eat and drink," Vanmarcke said at Vive le Vélo. "But, and I think many riders will have had this feeling, when you come from altitude, where you have trained very controlled, and then you come into a classic with all that cornering, twisting, always having to accelerate again, then you can sometimes get a cramp the first few times."

At the E3 Saxo Classic van Aert did not play much of a role in the fight for the first positions, but that was mostly due to positioning. At Dwars door Vlaanderen, Visma fixed this situation, but the Belgian then did not have the legs in the final sprint to take a win as he had expected.

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These are worrying signs, and van Aert will enter Flanders a level below van der Poel and Pogacar, whilst Visma will have to take big risks and innovate to try and take the win on the day - with Matteo Jorgenson likely to be pivotal if this is to happen. However van Aert is not 'done' according to the former pro, who remembers very well former Flanders winner and teammate Alberto Bettiol who used to have the exact same issues.

"And yes, Wout van Aert is an experienced rider. But Alberto Bettiol, for example, has also been suffering from it for years when he returns from altitude," he shares. "Those first one-day races you have cramps and then it gets better."

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"I can't justify what I did" - Heartbroken Wout van Aert takes full responsibility for Visma's disastrous defeat at Dwars door Vlaanderen

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