Visma-Blamage reminds of Quick Step
Team Visma | Lease a Bike and its captain Wout van Aert have suffered one of the most memorable defeats of any team in the history of cycling at the 79th edition of the Trans-Flanders. Despite numerical superiority in the final with three riders in the four-man lead group, van Aert was beaten in the sprint by US American Neilson Powless from Team EF Education - EasyPost. The Visma defeat was reminiscent of 2015, when Ian Stannard (Team Sky) prevailed alone against three Quick-Step riders around Tom Boonen at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Soudal Quick-Step posted after Quer durch Flandern on its X-channel, which alluded to that time.
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The decision to go for the sprint at Visma instead of taking advantage of the superior numbers proved to be a fatal tactical error. The 184.2 kilometre race from Roeselare to Waregem initially developed according to plan for the Dutch riders. Around 70 kilometres before the finish, van Aert and his team-mates Tiesj Benoot and Matteo Jorgenson managed to break away from the peloton. Only Powless was able to follow the trio in the finale. With a lead of almost a minute, the leading group of four went into the final kilometres. Despite being clearly outnumbered, Visma | Lease a Bike refrained from putting Powless under pressure with alternating attacks. Instead, they relied on the sprinting abilities of van Aert.
Wout van Aert takes responsibility for tactical error
On the home straight, Benoot launched the sprint for van Aert. But the Belgian was unable to maintain his position and was caught by Powless. Shortly after the race, van Aert was very self-critical in front of the TV cameras: "For once, I thought about myself. I just didn't want us to mess up and for one of my team-mates to win this race. That's a big mistake. I'm not like that. That's why I'm extremely disappointed," said the 30-year-old.
The Belgian then made similar comments on the website of his team Visma | Lease a Bike. "I take full responsibility for this disappointment," explained van Aert. "I told Tiesj, Matteo and the sports directors that we should focus on the sprint. I was confident that we could beat Neilson that way, but now that we didn't make it, I can only say that we made a big mistake. If you have three riders in a group of four and you don't win, you haven't done everything perfectly. It was my decision, so I take responsibility."
"I take full responsibility for this disappointment" - Wout van Aert
The disappointment at Visma | Lease a Bike was palpable. Nevertheless, sports director Grischa Niermann tried to take positives from the race: "Of course, we can't say it was a perfect plan if we didn't win. For a long time, an attack from the escape group was not an option because the chasers were too close. In the end we could have tried, but as a team we decided in favour of the sprint. Everyone believed in this decision."
Demi Vollering shows understanding and urges more compassion
In a remarkable social media post, the Dutch top female rider subsequently reported Demi Vollering and showed understanding for van Aert's situation. "We shouldn't forget that we're all human. We love a bit of drama. We love underdog stories. Wout is only human. This guy has been through a lot! And everyone had their opinion about him," Vollering wrote on Instagram.
The Dutchwoman warned against making hasty judgements and recalled the mental strain that top riders like van Aert are exposed to: "We're tempted to forget everything he's been through and we probably don't even know the half of it because we can't look inside his head or understand what it triggers in him."
A wake-up call for cycling?
Vollering sees van Aert's defeat as a lesson for cycling as a whole: "It's a lesson. A wake-up call for Visma and Wout, but not just for them. It's a lesson and a wake-up call for all of us. He is a human being. We are all human. I think I've been in his situation. You think you're making the right decisions, but under too much pressure, under too much focus, you can't see it anymore. And we'll never recognise it in that moment..."
The Dutchwoman's words are a reminder that behind sporting performances and tactical decisions there are always people who are under enormous pressure. The incident at Quer durch Flandern could therefore become a moment of reflection in cycling - about dealing with expectations, pressure and the human aspects of elite sport.
