Van Aert honours Goolaerts with Roubaix win, late night message and promised flowers

The race itself followed a familiar script for Roubaix. Mechanical trouble and a natural selection that left only the strongest. Van Aert punctured twice but stayed in contention, matching every move from Tadej Pogačar over the final 50 kilometres.

They arrived together at the Velodrome. Van Aert had already seen that scenario play out in his head.

“I’ve ridden that sprint so many times in my dreams,” he said in the flash interview. “I knew exactly what to do.”

The celebration was brief. When crossing the line, Van Aert pointed to the sky. “Since that day, I wanted to win here and point upwards,” he said. “This one is for him, for his family, and for everyone who was there.”

He was referring to Michael Goolaerts, his former teammate who died during the 2018 edition of the race.

For Goolaerts’ parents, the gesture was immediately clear. They had followed the day in their own way. His father, who says he rarely watches cycling anymore, heard the decisive moments on the radio.

“I was driving back from visiting my mother and heard that Wout could win,” he said to Sporza. “I stopped on the driveway and kept listening. The tears were running down my face.”

Inside, his wife had been watching the race live. Together, they listened again to Van Aert’s post race interview. “It was beautiful,” he said.

The day did not end there. In the early hours, Van Aert sent a message.

“I woke up and suddenly saw it,” Goolaerts’ father said to Sporza. “He wrote: ‘I can’t sleep. There’s been too much today.’” Van Aert added that the flowers from the podium were already on their way.

They arrived on Monday, delivered on his behalf as he left for a short break. It was something he had spoken about before, bringing the Roubaix bouquet to Goolaerts.

“He kept his word,” his mother said. “For us, this feels like a victory for our Michael.”

The flowers will be placed beside his urn, which is shaped like a cobblestone. A detail that underlines how closely Roubaix remains tied to his memory.

The contact between Van Aert and the family has never been constant, but it has been consistent. “He has never really let him go,” his mother said. “Michael is still in his heart.”

Her husband added that he occasionally sends a message, without expecting anything in return. “He always replies within a few minutes,” he said. “But I don’t want to bother him. He has other priorities.”

What matters more is that Goolaerts is still remembered. “It’s heavy, but also comforting that people still think about him,” he said. “There are many riders who pass away and are forgotten. We are lucky that he isn’t.”

Watching the race, they allowed themselves a thought. “We’re not superstitious,” his mother said, “but it felt like Michael was riding along with him.”