Belgium expects – Wout van Aert in the spotlight ahead of Tour of Flanders

On the tenth floor of the Van der Valk hotel in Gent on Thursday afternoon, a pair of television cameramen stood sentry by the elevator, waiting intently to capture Wout van Aert's arrival.

Every time the doors rolled open, they would hopefully raise their cameras only to quickly lower them again in disappointment once they realised it wasn't him.

The scene replayed itself enough times for the men to become quietly exasperated once they realised they were only repeatedly recording the poor timekeeping of startled journalists for posterity, but eventually, the man of the moment emerged from the lift, flanked by Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte and directeur sportif Maarten Wynants.

Jumbo-Visma's collective might has been the story of the Spring thus far, but here in Belgium, three days before the start of the Tour of Flanders, all eyes are trained firmly on Van Aert, a home favourite still seeking his first victory in his home race.

This week, his every move seems to find its way into the public domain, its significance amplified and sometimes distorted, even by his friends. It must be a claustrophobic experience.

On Wednesday evening, his sometime training partner, the former pro Jan Bakelants, told a podcast that Van Aert had risked a fatal accident when a cement mixer deliberately passed close to their group earlier this week. By Thursday morning, the comments were splashed all over Flemish media outlets – 'Did Wout van Aert risk death?' trilled one headline.

Come Thursday afternoon, when he took a seat for his pre-race press conference in the hotel bar, Van Aert found himself wearily explaining that Bakelants had rather overegged the gravity of the incident.

"These are incidents that unfortunately happen almost every day on the road," Van Aert said. "But we are still alive. It was certainly not a safe situation, but I was not nearly dead either.

"The timing was especially unfortunate. I received a lot of worried messages, even from my wife, who thought I had almost been run over at that very moment."

Of greater concern to Van Aert was the news that teammate Dylan van Baarle would miss the Tour of Flanders after falling ill during the week. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner, a new arrival at Jumbo-Visma this season, was due to be a key element in the team's plan of attack. Despite the team's depth, Van Baarle's absence is a blow to Van Aert's hopes to overcome Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel.

"It changes a lot, of course," Van Aert confessed. "He's a super strong rider and especially strong in these long races. It's a shame that we miss Dylan on Sunday, but we have a few other cards to play. We're a strong team, and hopefully, we can manage to finish it off as well without Dylan."

Strength in depth

The depth of Van Aert's team is not in doubt. After Laporte's victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, Jumbo-Visma have now landed five cobbled Classics in 2023 through four different riders, but some of Richard Plugge's 'samen winnen' set are more likely winners than others.

Despite the presence of Tiesj Benoot and Laporte, Van Aert is the clear leader for the Tour of Flanders and surely the only Jumbo-Visma rider who can beat Pogačar or Van der Poel in a head-to-head contest.

Even so, Van Aert himself had harboured some doubts about his prospects after a bout of illness interrupted his training in February and delayed the start of his season. He was, by his own admission, the weakest of the elite winning break at the E3 Saxo Classic, but his confidence was boosted considerably by hanging tough with Pogačar and Van der Poel there and then beating them in the sprint in Harelbeke.

"I learned they were super strong, probably a bit stronger than me," Van Aert confessed. "Luckily I could hang on and that was a good lesson for me. I showed I could also win the race if I'm maybe not the strongest but if I'm able to stay with the guys.

"I hope to be a little better on Sunday – we'll see when I make my move. But they are the two guys I will be looking at the most, of course."

After winning in Harelbeke, Van Aert shouted down the lens of a television camera that he had nothing to prove – "Ik moet just niks," he said. Perhaps, but he was still glad of the reassurance that came from his win there and his exhibition at Gent-Wevelgem two days later, where he ceded victory to his teammate Laporte after their two-up break.

Van der Poel and Pogačar may have been absent, but it was a statement of intent all the same from a man who, aged 28, is beginning to face more persistent questions about a palmarès that features 'only' one Monument, the 2020 Milan-San Remo.

"I would have a different feeling now if I hadn't been really at the top end of the race last weekend. For my confidence, it was really nice to have a win and to have the good feeling in the legs during these two races," said Van Aert.

He believes, too, that his condition has risen another notch or two across the past week since his (relative) struggles against Pogačar on the Oude Kwaremont.

"It's always hard to tell, but I definitely feel that I'm recovering faster and faster than I was one month ago at a race like Tirreno, for example. If I look at it that way, then for sure I am progressing. You can also see that in the way I'm riding, so hopefully there has been this tiny little step in this last week. That would be nice."

Breaking a Belgian drought in Flanders

Sunday marks Van Aert's fourth tilt at the Tour of Flanders, and his record in the race he covets the most is, by his own exalted standards, relatively underwhelming. The only wholly positive experience came on his debut in 2018, when he placed ninth in the colours of Vérandas Willems-Crelan while still predominantly a cyclocross rider. He had to settle for 14th a year later and sixth in 2021.

In between, Van Aert was beaten by his eternal rival Van der Poel in a two-up sprint in the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020. Perhaps most maddeningly of all, last year he had to watch from the sidelines as Van der Poel claimed a second Ronde win after a COVID-19 diagnosis had ruled Van Aert out of the race altogether.

"Last year, I was really on a top level earlier on in the spring and I was quite confident I would be really ready for the Tour of Flanders," Van Aert said. "I think this year I kind of grew towards the same feeling, so hopefully it's right on time."

Van Aert goes again on Sunday, competing against two rivals of the highest imaginable level, but backed by a team that has been able to do as it pleases on the cobbles this year. Despite his struggles on the Oude Kwaremont last week, Van Aert looks an increasingly logical favourite for Sunday.

"As a team, hopefully we can have some kind of control on the action, like we did in the previous races. That will be definitely our goal, to create good situations," Van Aert said. "But at a certain point, you have to move yourself."

Six years have now passed since a Belgian rider won the Tour of Flanders, which marks a historic drought for the host country, and Van Aert shoulders the bulk of the attendant home hopes. Asked what would happen if he didn't win on Sunday, he shrugged politely.

"Then Monday, we wake up again, probably," Van Aert smiled. "Hopefully."

In the unremitting glare of a spotlight like this, a helping of perspective never goes amiss.