Wout van Aert is the man who can take on phenomenal Pogacar and Van der Poel: "He is meticulously preparing for Flanders and Roubaix"
Cycling
As expected, Milano-Sanremo turned out to be a two-man show of world champion Tadej Pogacar who challenged his predecessor - Mathieu van der Poel. Third time however was not the charm for the Slovenian who tried impossible and win with an attack already on Cipressa. In any case both men seem be in top shape, which bears a great promise towards the upcoming cobbled Classics.
"The question is what this means for the rest of the spring," former Lotto team manager Marc Sergeant writes in his analysis for Het Nieuwsblad. "Van der Poel may have emerged as the winner of the duel on Saturday, but that also had to do with the course. On the Poggio, Pogacar cannot drop the Dutchman because that climb is not steep enough."
According to Sergeant, the world champion's chances at the Tour of Flanders will be far greater with notably steeper climbs on the menu. "On the Oude Kwaremont or Paterberg, the Slovenian can play his qualities much better. Van der Poel is super explosive, but he has to drag a lot more kilos up. And give Pogacar fifteen seconds and they won't see him again."
Wout Van Aert
"But let's hope that we don't watch a duel between Pogacar and Van der Poel every time. And that they get more opposition," Sergeant continues. Who should that come from? The Belgian points to the greatest absentee of the concluded La Primavera: Wout van Aert.
The Visma | Lease a Bike rider didn't find his best legs at the early season Classics and therefore returned to the drawing board: "He is meticulously preparing for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix on the Teide. To be able to compete with those men. Only: the level of Pogacar and Van der Poel is exceptionally high," Sergeant concludes.
I hope Wout can come back. He has had 3 terrible crashes--not on par with Froome or Bernal, but at his level just a fraction of a percent is all that separates the grand champions of this new generation. Even if he is back all the way physically, those abrupt confrontations with pavement and mortality take a psychic toll, especially for a father of young kids.
I don't believe so sadly, much as pulling another rider into that group I think Tadej and MVDP have raised the game so far they are essentially untouchable. The spoils of this season will be split between them, I believe Tadej will take RVV, LBL and Lombardia, MVDP MSR and Roubaix. I'm not even sure Remco will be at their level when he comes back. Tadej and MVDP are just a step above everyone else
C’mon, nobody has ever spoken of Ganna in the same breath as those two until a few months ago and he showed how close a thing it can be when he’s on form, nobody can know in advance what form Remco will have, his Olympic form would cause even Tadej problems, and Wout, well, we’ll just have to wait and see but you can’t really write him off in advance.
that sounds right. at Roubaix, any of the strong riders who has better luck than the other elites can win. not the case at flanders, where THE strongest almost always wins. (which means rvv will be either tadej or mathieu.)
Would be so cool. Might not be possible regularly but a few, even Jungels showed glimpses of his past form after going through mental deserts.
Yes, I think he still has a lot to say in road cycling. In the CX races he showed a very good gear but... the problem was essentially his NERVOUSNESS then he took bad decisions in finding the best strategies and paths. He needs confidence (calm down) and maybe a very good preparation gave him that.
Hahaha! The only thing WVA can take on is a mean mug for being a sore loser. Not a chance for him. Pogi is a real top class rider. He lost and got third, yet his good humor and respect for MVDP is a sign of a humble champion. WVA is a great rider but has no class.
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santiagobenites26-03-2025 - I hope Wout can come back. He has had 3 terrible crashes--not on par with Froome or Bernal, but at his level just a fraction of a percent is all that separates the grand champions of this new generation. Even if he is back all the way physically, those abrupt confrontations with pavement and mortality take a psychic toll, especially for a father of young kids.
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