Wout van Aert confident and determined to chase long-awaited Paris-Roubaix dream: “I felt like myself again”
CyclingSunday, 13 April 2025 at 00:30
Wout van Aert returns to Paris-Roubaix with a clear mission:
to finally conquer the iconic cobbled Monument and overcome two of the sport’s
biggest names, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar.
Speaking to Cycling Pro Net ahead of Sunday’s race,
the Belgian star appeared composed and focused, with confidence returning after
a difficult start to his classics campaign. Still, he showed improved form last
week at the Tour of Flanders.
“Yeah still 24 hours before the race, so it's good to be
relaxed at this point."
When asked how his week had gone following the Tour of
Flanders, Van Aert reported a strong recovery and renewed motivation.
"It was a nice week. I felt like the recovery was
really good after Flanders and, yeah, was straight away looking forward to the
day of tomorrow."
Despite setbacks earlier in the season, he now feels
mentally and physically ready to take on the challenge.
"Yeah of course the beginning of the season was
complicated for me. I think um it was hard to find the right legs in the
classics and uh from last weekend on I felt, well, I felt like myself again and
for sure it was good for the morale to be in a final again in Tour of Flanders,
with the best riders."
As for the favourites, Van Aert sees no surprises when it
comes to who he believes will be strongest on the day.
"For me, there’s no clear favourite. It’s as I expected,
Mathieu and Tadej are a bit stronger than the others. They’ve dropped us a few
times, especially on hillier terrain back home, but they have the acceleration.
So for me, they’re still the main favourites tomorrow."
For Van Aert, there is only one objective.
“Yeah of course I'm here to win. It's a dream for me to win
this race and we keep on trying."
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- there are loads of people and pundits who spend a lot of time griping about how few races some of the big names compete in these days. i think it’s a dumb argument personally but to each his own. in the case of jonas, though, i think a very limited calendar makes a ton of sense and wouldn’t need to be explained by a deep fear of crashing. to me, jonas really does seem like a pure grand tour racer. the explosiveness needed for even a climber’s classic, like il lombardia, isn’t really there when heads up with guys like remco and tadej. with the exception of the occasional MIND BLOWING time trial effort, jonas is like death by a thousand cuts. over the course of days he just grinds and grinds until a breaking point. a could see him just doing the Tour and the lead up prep races, like tour de suisse. in a year like this, MAAAAYYBEEE the world championships because of the course. Now, if you throw in some (pretty understandable) skittishness about getting in another wreck, well, whatevs. wout is another story. about that i would just say that wouter is a total bad-ass and when it comes to mastering one’s own fear, van aert seems like a one-percenter to me. remember that it’s not just the crashes from the last couple years that he carries around in his head, it’s also that horrific one from the TT at the tour in like 2019, which was the worst of all of them. i don’t think he’s skipping races because he’s afraid. all of what i’ve said is just a feeling. i can’t back it up and wouldn’t try. it’s just a sloppy, half thought out IT KINDA SEEMS TO ME THAT… but it really does seem like that. to me.OCexile17-04-2025
- Yeh but he's riding great, sad unlucky flat + Pog. crashing = MvdP winning 🤷
leedorney16-04-2025 - Mads seems to race for 2nd place... tho the traffic worked in Yorkshire, for him 👍leedorney16-04-2025
- AmenMistermaumau16-04-2025
- SD Worx can’t undercut Demi any more. Have they moved on to undercutting Lotte? It’s crazy to me that the defending champion who also happens to be world champion doesn’t have the total backing of her teammobk16-04-2025
- Going on from Kelly's comments, I feel Van Aert has been mis-managed something Visma suffer badly from, they really screwed up in the giro for Roglic when a manager wanted a pee break.. & that Vuelta when Kuss just about got it... Visma aren't soo great tacticallyleedorney16-04-2025
- Typical anal Specializedleedorney16-04-2025
- yeah, van der poel’s ability to suffer is, i think, almost unparalleled. years ago, after an absolutely savage cx in namur when wout just couldn’t stay with mvdp in the last half of the last lap, van aert said, “it has always been a great quality of mathieu’s that he can ride far beyond his limit. i’m capable of riding a very good finale as well, but often he can just go a little deeper.” you see it in that classic Amstel Gold from 2019, and in every case where van der poel crosses the line and utterly collapses. people who don’t like him have always said that’s for “dramatic effect”, but it’s so obviously something that only happens after his most extreme efforts, such as his epic bonk in tirreno adriatico when he barely held off a charging pogacar on a freezing cold day. mathieu is 30, so just a few years down the road he won’t have that ability any longer. i’m glad i’ve gotten to watch so much of him while he does.OCexile16-04-2025
- Possibly Specialized? By 'faster bike' did he mean the one without a motor? The non 'turbo' version?54X1216-04-2025
- Have you looked at stills of him with others lately? Or the podium at P-R. When is the last time you saw any defining features in his skin like almost every other pro rider and most active amateurs in season. Sure, maybe he’s been heavier and the fact he probably yoyos from winter to summer can fool you into thinking he lost weight but you can’t deny there’s potential to lose quite a bit still, all the better for him.Mistermaumau16-04-2025