Wout van Aert "the only one who could have followed Mathieu van der Poel" at Tour of Flanders according to Visma DS

After Tiesj Benoot came home best placed for Team Visma | Lease a Bike at the 2024 Tour of Flanders, in 15th position, there's understandably a feeling of 'what if' Wout van Aert had been available for the team's sports director, Grischa Niermann.

“Wout would undoubtedly have been the only one who could have followed Mathieu van der Poel (the clear winner ed.) here today and would have been his equal," Niermann reflects in conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws. "Then they would have fought it out in a sprint."

Ultimately though, instead of competing on the cobbles of Flanders against the likes of van der Poel, van Aert was enjoying some fries, as seen on his Instagram story, whilst he recovers from a horrific crash at the Dwars Door Vlaanderen last week that left the Belgian superstar with broken ribs and a broken collarbone among other scrapes and bruises.

"The reality is that van Aert was not here today," Niermann admits, concluding with news that a timeline for van Aert's return is still unclear. "There is no news to report about his rehabilitation. We will look at this further in the coming days and let the doctors decide what is possible.”