'It's easier to accept' - No trauma for Visma in Van Aert's latest Dwars defeat

Two years ago, the broken bones sustained in the mass crash after the Kanarieberg ruled Wout van Aert out of the Tour of Flanders. Twelve months ago, the broken morale incurred from throwing away a race he looked to have won saw him head to the Ronde with confidence at a crippling low.

This time out, the heartbreak of being caught and passed by Filippo Ganna in the finishing straight might yet serve to spur Van Aert on to greater things at the race he covets above all others.

Van Aert’s disappointment was palpable when he spilled across the line in second place in Waregem after he was denied by Ganna’s searing late effort, but he was able to summon a smile by the time he was ushered onto the podium alongside the Italian.

Outside the Visma | Lease a Bike team bus, head of racing Grischa Niermann acknowledged that this defeat didn’t sting in quite the same way as last year, when Van Aert was surprisingly beaten by Neilson Powless in a four-up sprint that featured three Visma riders.

“Last year we lost the race in a stupid fashion because we took wrong tactical decisions,” Niermann said. “I think today Wout was the strongest rider, but the strongest rider doesn’t always win, and then we have to accept it. It’s of course easier to accept, but it’s still not nice to get caught just before the line.”

Van Aert’s past two Classics campaigns have been conditioned by injury, but despite suffering an ankle fracture in January, the Belgian’s season has been more encouraging to this point. He claimed third place at Milan-Sanremo and he impressed in an attack with his old rival Mathieu van der Poel at Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday.

With Van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar absent on Wednesday, Van Aert was the favourite for Dwars door Vlaanderen, and he raced as such, swiftly bridging up to earlier attackers Romain Grégoire (Groupama FDJ-United) and Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets) with a devastating attack on the Eikenberg with 40km to go. 

It was, Niermann explained, an attack that had been planned before the start. Van Aert would drop Grégoire and Larsen in turn, but he had just a handful of seconds in hand on the chasers beneath the flamme rouge. He would be passed by Ganna just as the finish line came into view.

“Wout will for sure take away that he was very, very strong today, that he could drop everybody off his wheel,” Niermann said. “We’re not racing against Tadej today, we’re not racing against Mathieu, but all the other favourites for Sunday were here. He is certainly in a good shape, in a good place. But for sure, it’s a big disappointment to lose out on the victory. This is one of the races he really wants to win, and it didn’t happen, so that’s a big pity.”

The cruel nature of this defeat adds to the catalogue of setbacks Van Aert has suffered at Dwars door Vlaanderen over the years, but Niermann was reluctant to dwell too deeply on the vexed nature of his relationship with this race.

“I mean, it’s just cycling,” Niermann said. “We also don’t have to make it bigger than it is. I think last year we fucked it up, we had a big disappointment. This year we did a good race. We for sure had the strongest rider in the race, but we didn’t win. And that’s it. No more, no less.”

Van Aert’s latest near miss will compete for column inches in Thursday’s newspapers with the confirmation that Remco Evenepoel will make his Tour of Flanders debut on Sunday. 

Evenepoel’s presence means that Van Aert will not be alone in carrying the expectations of ending Belgium’s nine-year drought without a Ronde winner, and it also adds to the short list of riders who will set out from Antwerp with genuine ambitions of victory. Last week, Evenepoel was racing against Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard at the Volta a Catalunya, placing fifth overall behind the Dane.

“My first thought was that I know why he took it easy in Catalunya... No, my first thought was I will call Jonas now that he comes here,” Niermann joked. 

“No, it’s good for us if another strong guy comes there. I think it will be a new experience for Remco because this race for sure is different than other races. But if he can manage to handle himself in the hectic, he will be there in the final. And it’s another card that plays a role, so I think it’s a good thing.”