79th Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME (1.UWT) April 2nd 2025

[Brullnux]

I don't really get all the 'HAHA's' after everything Wout has been through.

Sincere congratulations to Powless though.

Second richest team loses a 3 v 1 will always be funny

 

[Peyroteo94]

I thought I was seeing Omloop some years ago!! Hilarious!

 

[Rackham]

We all understand that.

Worst fail since Prince Oberyn screwed up his fight versus the Mountain in GoT.

 

[red_flanders]

Worst fail since Prince Oberyn screwed up his fight versus the Mountain in GoT.

Oh Jeebus. Here come the memes...

 

[Sciatic]

Worst fail since Prince Oberyn screwed up his fight versus the Mountain in GoT.

Ouch, that was painful! Similar circumstances though—overconfidence.

 

[Netserk]

I didn’t mean just this race though, it’s been a noticeable theme. But perhaps that happens when a top rider starts to struggle?

It's about his decisions, not his legs. It has been the same for years, he wants to win by being strong and beating everyone in a sprint, rarely trying a sneaky attack or to sit on the wheel of an opponent. And he makes the team race worse too.

 

[pastronef]

Visma found a very impressive way to kill Wout's morale.

he decided he wanted to sprint

 

[KOM]

Lol its funny when the amount of pages is a spoiler in and of itself, I just finished the race and when i was on page 14 here with 15ks to go und 23 pages and counting I knew theres no way Powells doesnt win 😂

 

[Potomac]

Watching this live today made my vpn totally worth it.

 

[E_F_]

Watching this live today made my vpn totally worth it.

Where did you watch it?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Watching this live today made my vpn totally worth it.

Same here

 

[KOM]

Is it known if Wout is working with a (sports) psychologist? If not I guess he really should hes had tremendous setbacks and faces enormous amounts of pressure and its starting to show in the races too... Its more than understandable of course, but feel like he should get some support in that regard, allthough i suppose its quite likely he allready does.

 

[zlev11]

Powless' comment about this being the biggest win of his life was interesting, given his San Sebastian win. Goes to show the importance to classics riders of this time of the year.

yeah he needs to talk to Remco, doesn't he know that San Sebastian is the 7th monument?

 

[tobydawq]

A headline seen on a Danish media website:

'American bike rider rides away from Mads Pedersen in Belgium'.

Nice way of catching the essence of this race.

 

[Rackham]

Is it known if Wout is working with a (sports) psychologist? If not I guess he really should hes had tremendous setbacks and faces enormous amounts of pressure and its starting to show in the races too... Its more than understandable of course, but well like he should get some support in that regard, allthough i suppose its quite likely he allready does.

He needs a better DS more than a therapist.

 

[kingjr]

These decisions are bread and butter for visma managment. But they wildly overestimated wouts legs here

I think it's more a case of underestimating Powless. I'm pretty sure van Aert is aware that he doesn't have the kind of legs right now that he had in past years, and against someone like, say, Pidcock, they would have played it differently.

 

[pastronef]

if for a miracle Wout wins on Sunday I think he'll retire as he steps off the podium

 

[kingjr]

Watching Wout's interview, I just don't get where the hate leveled at him, comes from?

He's not blaming anyone but himself, and said it was his decision to wait to the sprint. He like everyone else thought he would beat Powless, heads up.

If you're a big fan of an athlete, you often end up hating their biggest rivals just for beating them, and since van Aert is good at so many things, he is a thorn in the side of many fans. I'm very familiar with the feeling, and it's absolutely visceral, even though I know it's completely irrational. I don't think anything can be done about that. Expressing that sentiment in public, however, is a different story, and completely unnecessary.

 

[kingjr]

Wout's face looks like he lost some weight. His cheeks look even more sunken than Roglic. Maybe lost some top end power to gain climbing endurance?

That's a joke, right? He is sucking them in.

 

[Unchained]

I have watched the last few kilometers, a couple of times..
Why would Wout or Jorgensen not just jump from the front? With 3 riders and Powless in the back at 3,4 k out you jump and force Powless to close up a gap that has to be 3 bikes but likely more, and do it to him 3,4 times..
End result might have been the same but allowing him to get towed to the line was silly.. And why the commentators said over and over that Wout was the " obvious favorite "? Why because the winner from last year was in the final selection of 4!! And currently Wout is way better than Jorgenson at anything? Dumb!! Van Aert might have some serious training volume giving him sufficient stamina, but he has zero snap, his last few sprints are flat, listless.. Super blunder..

 

[Lequack]

That's a joke, right? He is sucking them in.

Could be. He still does look skinnier than before.

 

[Red Rick]

If you're a big fan of an athlete, you often end up hating their biggest rivals just for beating them, and since van Aert is good at so many things, he is a thorn in the side of many fans. I'm very familiar with the feeling, and it's absolutely visceral, even though I know it's completely irrational. I don't think anything can be done about that. Expressing that sentiment in public, however, is a different story, and completely unnecessary.

I don't think it's for beating people. It's for having large amounts of fans and having media act like he's much better than he is.

I really suspect he's less disliked for stuff like beating Alaphilippe in Milan Sanremo than for Belgian medai being outraged Roglic doesn't just pull back Alaphilippe for him in Imola or that sort of stuff.

And I think the cruel irony is the same Belgian media that hyped him up as the greatest human alive are also the ones tearing him down right now and incuding him to make mistakes like he's making today.

 

[Unchained]

If you're a big fan of an athlete, you often end up hating their biggest rivals just for beating them, and since van Aert is good at so many things, he is a thorn in the side of many fans. I'm very familiar with the feeling, and it's absolutely visceral, even though I know it's completely irrational. I don't think anything can be done about that. Expressing that sentiment in public, however, is a different story, and completely unnecessary.

Van Aert is certainly a talent, he is a great racer, Don't know where he is getting false confidence of being the best sprinter in today's group of 4. If they were following instructions from the team car..need to get someone else calling the plan from the car.

 

[Unchained]

Women's race was excellent.. UAE did great job..

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Now who on here said he had no chance?

Me