Wout van Aert "the only one who could have followed Mathieu van der Poel" at Tour of Flanders according to Visma DS
CyclingMonday, 01 April 2024 at 11:30
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.”
claps 100visitors 1
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Apr 06, 15:11
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- "I think they forgot last year, and when Jonas was injured," and I think you forgot 2023 L-B-L, when Tadej was injured and had to improvise a training without bike. Tadej only could riding a "normal" bike again only 2 weeks before the Tour. That TT he couldn't knowing well at all.
maria2024202407-05-2025 - It's unfortunate a rider of his caliber hasn't won the Tour de France and I can't fault him for trying, in fact, I respect it. But he never will win the Tour as long as Tadej and Jonas are in the peloton, and we might as well add Remco to that list as he is the youngest and seems to be coming up quickly behind Tadej and Jonas. I hope Primoz can capture another Giro and maybe another Vuelta before he calls it a day.awp07-05-2025
- "He breaks the conventions we once held", yeah, Tadej es disruptive, unique. Perhaps because he doesn't come from a family/country with tradition in cycling, so the "laws" of cycling were unknown to him and he was just looking/seeking to have fun. Traditions are beautiful but sometimes can be limiting.maria2024202407-05-2025
- I'd win so much money off Blythe on this one!bobo07-05-2025
- "The Giro d'Italia 2024 saw a strong increase in audience figures across RAI networks, especially on Rai2 and RaiSport HD. The race also experienced a significant boost in online engagement, with record numbers of website visitors, video views, and media articles. The event reached over 700 million viewers worldwide...." Sorry, but Pogacar is boring only for ... envious? ex-riders.maria2024202406-05-2025
- It's always the way in pro cycling - 1 rider wins and the rest,instead of working with each other to topple the better rider, they ride behind said rider collecting scraps that're left...
leedorney06-05-2025 - Better for the Giro? I'm sure viewers would rather see Tadej dominate the Giro from day 1, than see Van Hooydonck (if he were still racing for Visma) battle it out with whoever, maybe Uidtjebroeks (if he was in the Visma lineup).. pun not intended ,for the maglia rosa in the 21-day race.. A grand tour is not like a horse race. People want to see Tadej, Jonas, Remco, Primoz, MVDP, Van Aert etc... If not, I'll just watch the Tour of California.FredMan06-05-2025
- Respect to Caleb Ewan for making the decision to bow out of professional cycling. He's the only one that's knows what's best for him at this point in his life, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
santiagobenites06-05-2025 - Yeah, a big one 😁
DareDevil06-05-2025 - That's a surpriseleedorney06-05-2025
No such thing as an equal in a race ;-)
Look, I like Wout but at the moment if MvdP decides to win and there’s no incident, he’s going to win, basta.
Interesting to see how far he went considering he’s keen on Paris- Roubaix next week, I know he said after he wasn’t up to thinking about P-R yet and that a pro will be completely focused on the race he’s in and I know his team isn’t flooding him with distractions over the radio but I’m seriously surprised no-one told him to take it a little easier towards the end, you could tell he was completely exhausted nearing the finish line.
Amazing to see how calm and focussed he and the other two stayed, backwheels slipping up the Koppenberg, I wonder how Pogacar would have coped, not sure he regrets having missed this one.