Wout van Aert confident and determined to chase long-awaited Paris-Roubaix dream: “I felt like myself again”

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."