“We all know Wout has always been one of the fastest guys in the peloton. That seems to be a bit less the case at the moment," explains Van Dongen in conversation with
Wielerflits following the Brabantse Pijl loss to Evenepoel. "We’ve got the
Amstel Gold Race coming up on Sunday, and after that we’ll need to really analyse what can be improved in his sprint. We need to consider everything in order to come back stronger in the future. But for now, the focus has to be fully on Amstel.”
Van Aert himself also notes the need for improvement in the finale, especially considering he still searches for his first win of 2025. “It’s something I’ll really need to work on," he admits. "I want to find those old sprinting legs again. Right now, I don’t even have a clear explanation for why it’s not working. We haven’t changed anything in our training, so it’s something I definitely want to take a closer look at.”
Nevertheless, Van Dongen and Visma retain their faith in Van Aert as leader for the Amstel Gold Race. “He never looked in trouble today, so that should give him a lot of confidence heading into Amstel. But as I always say: you’re only as strong as your rivals allow you to be. Evenepoel is world-class, and Tadej Pogacar will also be there on Sunday. Still, we’re going to try and animate the race as a team,” the DS concludes. “That’s something we’ll quietly plan over the coming days. In any case, we want to make the race exciting - and you’ll see what happens on Sunday.”