Wout van Aert has gone deep on numerous occasions during Tirreno-Adriatico, but the suffering on his face should be replaced by a smile following the race's conclusion in San Benedetto del Tronto, with his stock for the Classics rising in time for next week's Milan-San Remo.
Van Aert fractured his ankle on January 2 while racing cyclocross and then had to miss Omloop Het Nieuwsblad due to a nasty illness.
He was off the top riders' pace at Strade Bianche and made mistakes during the early stages of Tirreno-Adriatico, but was back to his best on Saturday. He made the selection during the many climbs of the stage to Camerino and rode generously to set up Matteo Jorgenson's attempt to win the stage and move up from third overall.
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“I won’t say I feel top-notch, but it is good enough,” Van Aert told the Flemish media of his growing form and week of 'gaining race hardness.'
"You can’t simulate this work in training. Even with a good training schedule, you always choose a certain comfort zone. Here, the pace is set by someone else; you have to ride in a peloton and respond to attacks. You need that race feeling. It’s a cliché, but you can’t replicate that."
Van Aert has not won a race since last year's spectacular success on the Paris stage of the Tour de France. He is not yet back to that moment of grace and rued racing a little too generously on stage 5 to Martinsicuro when his eternal rival, Mathieu van der Poel, benefitted from his work to win the reduced sprint.
Van Aert gave himself eight of ten for a "fun week" of racing in Italy, but had regrets.
"With a victory added, we might have scored even higher, but otherwise, I'm super satisfied," he said,
"I was able to do my thing on a few stages, I came close to victory once and I feel good. This is what I had in mind for this week."
As for when that winning feeling might return, he replied with a smile: "Patience is a virtue. If I can have a good Classics period from now on, where I can give my best every time, I will be satisfied. I hope the results will follow.
"Of course, I understand that I win considerably less than I used to. That doesn't mean, however, that the winner in me has disappeared," he added.
Van Aert must be hoping his form will increase thanks to some super compensation recovery after going deep at Tirreno-Adriatico. He will return home to Belgium for a few days and a long final train ride before returning to Italy later in the week. As the 2020 Milan-San Remo winner, he will be one of the big names present at Friday's team presentation in Pavia and then faces 298 km in the saddle on Saturday.
With Tadej Pogcar and Van der Poel riding so well, Van Aert may need the power and speed to go with them on the Cipressa and then again on the Poggio if he is to win a second Milan-San Remo.
Van Aert has never finished outside the top five in eight rides of La Classicissima.
"I don't think I am one of the favorites. Pogačar and Van der Poel are the big favorites," he suggested, perhaps already playing tactical mind games with his rivals.
"I can win, because San Remo is a race par excellence where anything can happen. I think my legs were good this past week. I'm going there to win.
"I have never ridden a bad San Remo, so I am happy to be back. Last year, from an altitude training camp in Tenerife, I watched with a bit of a heavy heart how that finale unfolded."
