Van Aert Hitting Form Just in Time for Classics

Wout van Aert has long made clear that wins in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are key goals in his career, motivated in part by the fact that Milan-San Remo is—unbelievably—the only monument he has thus far.

He was sidelined by a fracture in early January and faced a battle to be ready for the Classics, but showed on Sunday that he is right on track.

The Belgian followed up his inspired third place in Milan-San Remo with an impressive performance in Gent-Wevelgem, now renamed In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem. The 2021 winner dynamited the race on the second ascent of the Kemmelberg and, on the third, was the only rider able to stay with an aggressive Mathieu van der Poel.

The result? The duo were clear together from there almost all the way to the finish, looking for a long time that they were going to sprint it out for the win.

Van der Poel has had a vastly different buildup to Van Aert, winning all 13 of his cyclocross races and then clocking up four road wins in 11 days of competition.

In contrast, Van Aert suffered a fractured ankle in a crash at the Exact Cross race on January 3 and was sidelined as a result. That marked the end of his cross season and put him on the back foot in terms of preparing for the 2026 season.

And while he has also done 11 road events, the same as Van der Poel, his third in San Remo and fifth on a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico are his best results.

Sunday’s performance will give him a lot of encouragement, even if he didn’t get the victory.

‘In the end we just came up short’

When in form, Van Aert is one of the most impressive riders in cycling. He dropped Tadej Pogačar to win the final stage of last year’s Tour de France, and dominated the early part of that same race back in 2022. Few can forget his masterful stage win in Calais while wearing the yellow jersey, as well as the work he did to unravel Pogačar on the stage to Hautacam.

He’s still not quite up to full strength but there are signs that is on the way. If his top form arrives, he will very much be a contender for Flanders and Roubaix.

“It’s a shame, because for a long time it looked like Mathieu and I would be fighting for the win,” the Belgian said after the finish. “I felt good and decided to raise the pace on the second ascent of the Kemmelberg. We crested with a strong group and quickly joined the leaders.

“During the final ascent, I was able to respond to Mathieu’s attack. We worked well together all the way to Wevelgem, but through the radio I heard that our lead was shrinking.

“We kept believing in it, but in the end we just came up short. I can build on this performance, although unfortunately a top result didn’t materialize.”

‘A shame I couldn’t play the same game’

Part of the issue was that Van der Poel was not fully committed. He said in a post-race interview that he still felt a little tired after his win in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic on Friday.

“I felt that I wasn’t great. I was good, but I lacked freshness,” he admitted after the finish, speaking to Sporza.

“As I said beforehand, we would communicate well all day. [Eventual winner] Jasper Philipsen indicated that he was still fine. I rode along with Wout, but always with the thought that hopefully Jasper would still come.”

It is feasible that they could have stayed clear had Van der Poel given it everything. The duo had 11 seconds with just over 4.5km to go and were joined by Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious) with 3.7km remaining.

All three were caught around the kilometer to go point.

“At the end, Van der Poel had the luxury of still having Jasper Philipsen behind him,” Van Aert said to HLN.be. “He then decided to approach it more tactically. I think that makes the difference between winning and losing. If you see that Jasper ultimately also wins, that tactic is somewhat understandable. It’s a shame I couldn’t play the same little game.”

Still, he exits the race with plenty of encouragement and heads towards Wednesday’s Dwars door Vlaanderen and next weekend’s Tour of Flanders believing big results are possible.

“I was among the better riders in the race and was able to help shape the race, so I am certainly satisfied with how I was able to ride,” he said.

“It was a beautiful day. Wednesday and Sunday will come quickly.”