’The word ‘finally’ comes up often’: Van Aert says Roubaix win brought joy rather than relief

Wout van Aert says winning Paris-Roubaix this year was above all a moment of joy, and that relief might have dominated had the victory come a year or two earlier, when he felt his career depended on it.

The Visma | Lease a Bike rider won the race at his seventh attempt in April, outsprinting Tadej Pogačar in the velodrome after the pair rode clear together on the cobbles. Jasper Stuyven was third and Mathieu van der Poel fourth. 

Van Aert had broken his ankle in a cyclocross race on 2 January, and dedicated the win to Michael Goolaerts, his former teammate who died after suffering a cardiac arrest at Roubaix in 2018.

He told Fiets Magazine that his outlook on his career has changed in the last couple of years. “If it had happened one or two years earlier, relief might have predominated more,” Van Aert said. “Back then, I felt more strongly that I needed such a victory to make my career a success. In the meantime, I have become more realistic about that. I realise that I have already achieved many wonderful things.”

Roubaix still mattered enormously to him, and he believes the reaction to the win showed how much it meant to others too. Van Aert had already won Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche in 2020 and the Amstel Gold Race in 2021, but he said those results felt like a natural step in his progress as a rider.

“Now, for myself and for the people, it was much more of a release,” he said. “The word ‘finally’ comes up often. I noticed that in the reactions as well. Apparently, I have made a lot of people happy.”

The attention has faded since the spring, but only slightly. Van Aert missed the Tour de France with an elbow injury, then came back at the Vuelta a España to win stage 13 and stage 15 into Córdoba, along with the points jersey. Roubaix is still what people want to talk about.

“For the first two or three months, that was practically every day, sometimes even a few times a day,” he said. “Now it is a bit less. A cycling year just moves on and other major races follow. But Roubaix keeps coming back regularly. People like to start talking about it, and do so quickly. It is a victory that clearly resonates deeply.”

Van Aert admits he went into this year’s Roubaix not expecting to win, and says that has taught him to keep trying for the Monuments he is still missing, including the Tour of Flanders. He knows his chances there are slimmer. Pogačar won Flanders for a record-equalling third time in April, and has named Paris-Roubaix as a major target for next spring.

“It is no coincidence that it worked out in Roubaix specifically. That is one of the few Monuments where I have a more than realistic chance,” Van Aert said. “Flanders is becoming increasingly difficult, especially with the presence of Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel.”

Van Aert’s Roubaix win also denied Pogačar the chance to complete a clean sweep of the five Monuments, a feat no rider has achieved.

“There are riders who have better cards, but there are also few riders who get opportunities like I do,” he said. “That chance can always come, and then I have to be ready. I have to keep believing, but also be realistic.”