Wout van Aert heads into Sunday's cobbled Classics finale at Paris-Roubaix as one of the favourites for victory in the Roubaix velodrome but he struck a downcast note at the end of his Jumbo-Visma team recon ride on Thursday afternoon.
Having spent the day riding a chunk of the route and the key cobbled sectors with Christophe Laporte, Eduardo Affini reigning champion Dylan van Baarle, Van Aert said that he "could be better" ahead of the Hell of the North.
Van Aert revealed that he has suffered more than he had expected after crashing at last weekend's Tour of Flanders, where he finished fourth.
"I'm suffering a little bit from my knee and ribs after the crash in Flanders, a bit more than I initially thought on Sunday," Van Aert told the assembled media, including Cyclingnews.
"So, until now I've not really had a great feeling on the bike in the last few days. I did two decent trainings yesterday and today and I hope I can recover a bit more before Sunday and find my legs again.
"I could be better," he concluded, summarising his feelings.
Van Aert said he's "ready for a break" from racing after the Classics. He was also disappointed to be dropped by eventual Tour of Flanders winner Tadej Pogačar and runner-up Mathieu van der Poel, though he has now accepted the result.
"At this moment I just accept what happened," he said of Flanders. "I got dropped by two riders who were just stronger last Sunday and that's definitely not a shame. I believe I'm still in the best form possible for the season.
"I hoped for more, that I could follow them. But that wasn't the case. Quite fast after the race I changed my disappointment into accepting it. There's no way around it.
"Unfortunately, in Flanders, we didn't come out in the way how we did the other Classics. We're really eager to show ourselves again and to race with multiple guys in the final again."
Conditions during Thursday's recon of the course, including key sectors such as the Trouée d'Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle, and the Carrefour de l'Arbre, are set to be quite different from what the riders will be facing on Sunday.
Rain during the week has left the cobbles slippery and muddy, though not to the extent of the famous wet Roubaix of two years ago. Drier weather is expected for the weekend.
Van Aert – who wasn't among the multiple riders on the team testing the KAPS adjustable tyre pressure system during the ride – said that he hopes the cobbles will have dried out by race day.
"I hope [the conditions] will be completely different because it was muddy and wet today. I think the forecast will be more dried out," he said. "I did the wet Roubaix two years ago and it wasn't really pleasant so I'm happy that next Sunday will be probably dry.
"It's a lot harder to handle the bike of course, and especially harder to ride in someone's wheels. You want to have a bit of vision of what's happening in front of you, a bit of a view. So, there are more gaps in between riders and makes it even easier to split."
