Wout van Aert's silver in Antwerp World Cup managed to surprise many, including sports director Jan Boven. He finished behind Mathieu van der Poel.
"This is even slightly better than we had thought ourselves," Boven told WielerFlits. He continues, "Beforehand, we had said we would be satisfied with a solid cross with few mistakes. The lead start surprised me too. Wout was well on the second row and knew who he wanted to be behind, he made a conscious choice to do that. Then you are out of the crowd, and that saves a lot for the first lap."
Van Aert was unable to answer Van der Poel's attack, and he knew victory would be difficult, so he tried for the next best position. “He tried to hook on but realised Mathieu was really riding a bit too fast. Especially in the onset after the corners. That's the difference between riding one, two or three crosses, then that definitely comes back to Wout as well," said Boven.
Now Van Aert will train for his next cyclocross race in Dublin. "It's not a one-two punch that Wout will be first next week, but Dublin is a course that should suit Wout,” concluded Boven.
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🇧🇪 #CXWorldCup 💬 "I surprised myself anyway. I didn't expect to be on the podium.” - @WoutvanAert Read more in our report! ✍🏼⤵️
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