Wout Van Aert should skip E3 Saxo Classic as he puts full focus on monument pursuit
CyclingSunday, 22 March 2026 at 16:45
The E3 Saxo Classic is the mini Tour of Flanders, which is both good and bad for the race. Whilst it serves as the most identical preparation towards the Flandrien monument, at the same time it is a brutal race that is hard to recover from. Most likely for that reason, we should not see Wout Van Aert at the start line in Harelbeke this coming week.
The race is the only one in the calendar which also features (two) ascents of the Oude Kwaremont, and one of the Paterberg. It is a race that largely follows the same roads in its decisive sections, making it incredibly difficult and selective.
A lot of riders use it for specific preparation but at the very top, the main leaders such as Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and other have their schedule tailor-made towards their needs. For this it is imperative to combine quality training, recons for the main races; but also avoid crashes and injuries as much as possible, as well as managing fatigue.
For some, it's a risk worth taking - it is also a highly prestigious World Tour race on its own. For others, it is an unnecessary step towards Flanders and Roubaix. Wout Van Aert was expected to lead Visma at the first of the main five cobbled classics in the late spring block, but according to Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad, he will not.
Instead he will cut down on that race day for extra training, whilst keeping both Middelkerke - Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen in his schedule. This will be his specific preparation towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, in which he was fourth last year in both.
After finishing third at Milano-Sanremo, the Belgian is giving all the positive signs. This has come after three months in which he suffered an ankle fracture, had his season delayed due to illness and also saw him crash at a key moment of the Italian monument.
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- 3 fingers vs a bloddied left side of Tadeg's body ....not even a fair comparison!frieders322-03-2026
- Thats a fair point. Matthieu didn't look good after the crash&chase and it surely drained him. But you shouldn't discredit the influence the crash had on Tadej too. Basically we could say the chances had even out if they both fell and cheased. Maybe Matthieu would have stayed with them. Maybe it would look the same. Or maybe Tadej's attack would be even more devastating. We cannot know it. Everything will remain just a pure speculation.BenAflec22-03-2026
- MVDP had 3 bloody/cut fingers due it the crash-- no question that affected his performance (as he said)-- i think he would have stayed with Pog & won the sprint otherwise....Xrider5122-03-2026
- Quintana had a great period from 2103 to 2016, but eventually faded into the background. Still, 51 wins is impressive! The article leaves out the doping and painkiller allegations that derailed his career a few years ago, for which he lost much respect. It’s good to see him leave on his own terms, and maybe one of his accelerations will stick again, this year - but he’s a rider from another decade, and I doubt they will. Still fun to watch, though!RidesHills22-03-2026
- Pogacar seems motivated by losses (each loss makes him more focused on the win), and by crashes. This crash led to a chase, an attack at just the right moment, and so on. The 2025 Strade Bianchi crash led to a chase, a truce with Pidcock, and an attack at just the right moment. The 2021 Strade Bianchi win came after he was part of that truly crazy wind-blown insanity (with Alaphilippe crashing and wisely leaping out of the way of those who crashed after him). In all three cases, he was up and on his bike as quickly as possible, faster than nearly anyone else, pure focus, pure determination. It’s like he sprints away from the crash, rushing to get back. Perhaps the crashes focus his mind even more than before and produce what seems like an angry response, “not like this, how dare you take away my chance!”RidesHills22-03-2026
- You forget him leading our Jasper the disaster after he begged in MSR a couple of years back - vdp totally could have won that year as wellCrashjames22-03-2026
- Looking at the strade numbers it seems Pog was 40w faster in 26 than 25 - more than 10% - at this stage in his career to get 10% faster in a year? Sadly it makes me wonder how that’s possible without “hep”Crashjames22-03-2026
- The only negative thing about this edition was that the sprinters had absolutely no chance. It reduces the spectacle when there aren't any sprinters who can contend. A route change can be done to fix this. Instead of starting in and winding about on the south side of the Po plain, the race should start in Novara. That'd mean that in the first 50 km they'd lose 80 m of altitude (in the current route they gain that amount instead). Novara is well on the north side of the Po, while Pavia is right next to it, so that'd be more faithful to the Milano to Sanremo idea. The second change is that Passo di Cadibona should be used instead of Passo del Turchino. This rises to an altitude of 459 m as opposed to the 591 that Passo del Turchino rises to. That's a very big difference which makes it better for the sprinters. Colle di Cadibona is also significant as it the official boundary between the Alps and the Appenines. If the tunnel is used then the highest point is 435 m. That route follows the river valley of the Bormida (as opposed to the current route which follows its tributary the Orba), and so the pass is lower. After that the riders would descend to Savona. The final 105 km would remain unchanged. Colle di Cadibona would be summitted 125 km from the finish, and though that is later than the 150 km that separate Passo del Turchino from the finish, that has no impact because it is an easier climb, so gentle it's not possible to call it one. With these route changes the race would be 298 km with 2010 m of climbing. For context in 2026 the race was 298 km with 2545 m of climbing. That reduction by 535 m is very significant for the sprinters. Crucially, these changes are all to the parts of the race which are not decisive at all, so the rest of the race is the same.
Rafionain-Glas22-03-2026 - As Orla Chennoui said "It's easy to say you let him go when you couldn't follow him" Unlike in 2025 the pace in the chasing group was very high, as they never gave up hope of catching Pogačar and Co. Lidl--Trek pulled very hard and the gap was very small. That meant that everyone was dead by the end. Wout, on the other hand, had to chase back alot, and due to the increase to pace on the Cipressa he only made it back before the Poggio. Wout could ride his own pace and didn't do any big efforts so he attacked. No-one lets anyone go with 2 km to go in Milano-Sanremo. Wout was just strongerRafionain-Glas22-03-2026
- I MVDP is a team player when he needs to be, but perhaps not as much as we would like him to be. But to be fair…Look at all those lead outs he’s done for Jasper. Alpecin had Jasper get him back after Cipressa but he had to fight for his own position. They didn’t help and guide him the way that POG had McNulty. I used to dislike MVDP because I started watching cycling through cyclocross. No my opinion is he just needs to win. So sometimes he looks selfish, but he was more than willing to sacrifice himself at the Tour de France and other races for Jasper.Cbastnagel22-03-2026
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