Wout van Aert: "I'm bummed, I would rather have crossed the line as the winner"

Wout van Aert had to settle for silver in X2O Trofee Herentals. The Belgian encountered a flat tire at the last moment in the final lap, which cost him the victory.

The results are clearly not satisfactory for Van Aert, "I had a flat just before the material post. Then I already felt that my bike started to shift. I hesitated for a moment to change, but then you're hopeless for the victory anyway. The moment Mathieu came along, it felt like someone was pulling on my saddle," Van Aert said in the post-race interview.

He further added, "Of course, I'm bummed, but fortunately, towards the finish, I had two minutes to come to my senses. It was great fun to race here. It's nice to race among so many acquaintances. I would rather have crossed the line as the winner, but I have to thank everyone for the turnout. I hope we were able to provide a spectacle."

Van der Poel opted for a different approach to preserving more energy for the end, and the Belgian was feeling the difference. "I did indeed notice that Mathieu left the initiative to me. It worked. On the cross, I just follow my feeling. I would also have liked to make more course in the past races, but I couldn't at the time. Mathieu put me under so much pressure than that I had to limit myself to following,” explains van Aert.

It was a good race for Van Aert, even though he didn't come out on top. "Today I felt good, maybe the best man on the course, but it's not easy to ride off someone of that class. I did try to unload Mathieu today. In the first laps, I had a few good passages on the Skiberg, but in the last laps, I couldn't ride Mathieu off there. It might be a bit boring that we are so evenly matched. We just ride around in pairs," concluded van Aert.