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

[Red Rick]

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.

He should 100% think he's the fastest normally, because he is.

The problem is after a race like this you can just not have legs in a sprint. And that's why even though he's >50% to win, they should have taken the 99% chance of triple teaming Powless.

 

[Lequack]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me6oLUODkJo

 

[Unchained]

He should 100% think he's the fastest normally, because he is.

The problem is after a race like this you can just not have legs in a sprint. And that's why even though he's >50% to win, they should have taken the 99% chance of triple teaming Powless.

Wout, Jorgenson, Powless all have some serious depth, all have years of great elite level TT results and can hold 3,4 k wide open, full gas..If Wout wanted to sprint, that as you said is a solid choice, but for me you send Jorgenson flying and make Powless respect reality.. Which is Visma not chasing themselves, Jorgenson is wearing #1 because he won last year, and he has horsepower to go 3-5 full throttle solo..and the other 2 Visma musketeers suck his wheel, jump him one or 2 times more with anyone except Wout and then he jumps.. And yes triple teaming Powless was the only thing they didn't do!! Goofy moves to let him rest for that long.. That's what I saw..to me, as Van Aert said in the interview, didn't work for the team.. Bravo Powless..perfect moves, perfect timing, cool head, smart racing, so so sprint.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

The problem is 3 against 1 on a flat finish is p*ss easy tactically. One attacks, Powless follows, another counters and job done. Voilà.

Servais Knaven approves of this message

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

My friend, Pozzato had an aura wva will never come close to.

The aura of a guy who knows the name and number of every escort in Monoco.

 

[red_flanders]

Wout, Jorgenson, Powless all have some serious depth, all have years of great elite level TT results and can hold 3,4 k wide open, full gas..If Wout wanted to sprint, that as you said is a solid choice, but for me you send Jorgenson flying and make Powless respect reality.. Which is Visma not chasing themselves, Jorgenson is wearing #1 because he won last year, and he has horsepower to go 3-5 full throttle solo..and the other 2 Visma musketeers suck his wheel, jump him one or 2 times more with anyone except Wout and then he jumps.. And yes triple teaming Powless was the only thing they didn't do!! Goofy moves to let him rest for that long.. That's what I saw..to me, as Van Aert said in the interview, didn't work for the team.. Bravo Powless..perfect moves, perfect timing, cool head, smart racing, so so sprint.

For sure. They also could have just simply tailed him off the back of the line, letting Visma #3 in the line drift back and make Powless repeatedly close the gap back to the group, while Visma #3 followed. Basic paceline tactics.

Which is reason #357 why he worked with them from the beginning of the move until kilometer 3. They could have done that the second they felt he wasn't gonna work.

 

[Panda Claws]

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.

I find the narrative here that Belgian media is tearing him down very odd. I've generally read positive things about him. This isn't like De Lie who's criticized for not doing enough.

 

[Brullnux]

I think Van Aert could have been selfish in a way which didn't end in a sprint. Jorgenson, Benoot doing almost full-out attacks but letting Powless recover or slowing, then Van Aert going. This was just the worst of all worlds.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

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..

Maybe all those people saying he should have riddent MSR had a point...

 

[RJH]

If Wout wins de Ronde, today‘s race will be forgotten quickly…

 

[JoãoRamos]

If Wout wins de Ronde, today‘s race will be forgotten quickly…

Yes, it would be.

But imho there is no way in hell he has even a 0.0001% of winning RVV after what he showed these past days.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Couple of years ago i was not amused with WVA for gifting Laporte Gent-Wevelgem. Today i'm not amused with him, not for backing himself. But for backing himself cause he wanted to strike back at the naysayers. I am always baffled by how how much some riders care about outside critique. Obviously i have no idea what being a celebrity whose very move is watched feels like. But you can't win no matter what. So let ppl critique, and let it all just slide off you.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

If Wout wins de Ronde, today‘s race will be forgotten quickly…

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??!!

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Couple of years ago i was not amused with WVA for gifting Laporte Gent-Wevelgem. Today i'm not amused with him, not for backing himself. But for backing himself cause he wanted to strike back at the naysayers. I am always baffled by how how much some riders care about outside critique. Obviously i have no idea what being a celebrity whose very move is watched feels like. But you can't win no matter what. So let ppl critique, and let it all just slide off you.

He's also being paid a lot of money to do what he does, so in some ways, the criticism isn't just about his riding, but about his entire life, because this is what got him everything he has. This has to cut deeper, psychologically unhealthy or not. He's just a guy who gets up every morning and engages in his life, it's just that he has people taking pictures of his kids when they're at the park. He'd be better to do what you suggest, but what you suggest takes much more than just saying "I don't care."

 

[Unchained]

If Wout wins de Ronde, today‘s race will be forgotten quickly…

You are 1000% right.. So I have to say a version of best way to predict the future is look at what happened in the past...Wout has had some bizarre flame out sprint repeat were he looks like legs are freezing up!! And tactics.. I hope that they don't repeat that!! I am someone who wants Wout to return to his winning ways..if you watch TDF videos of him beaming with pride, sincere smile, some kind of inner confidence and happy disposition.. That Wout was not at the race or in today's video.. Hope he can turn it around!!

 

[Salvarani]

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??!!

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

It's a quote from Animal House. I'm well aware of who bombed Pearl Harbor.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI

 

[Gratemans]

Couple of years ago i was not amused with WVA for gifting Laporte Gent-Wevelgem. Today i'm not amused with him, not for backing himself. But for backing himself cause he wanted to strike back at the naysayers. I am always baffled by how how much some riders care about outside critique. Obviously i have no idea what being a celebrity whose very move is watched feels like. But you can't win no matter what. So let ppl critique, and let it all just slide off you.

Makes me think of that annoying gesture where football players put a finger against their lips after scoring. It always makes me think "is your ego really that fragile you can't handle a little criticism?"

 

[pastronef]

If Wout wins de Ronde, today‘s race will be forgotten quickly…

imagine if Wout wins the Ronde and announces his retirement right after the finish

 

[jono]

Politt, Wellens, and Molano all DNFed for UAE. Oliveira DNS. I saw the Politt crash. What happened with the others?

 

[Sciatic]

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..

Several of us were suggesting that with 10 km to go, it would definitely have increased Visma’s chances and if it didn’t work than Wout could still
Sprint against a more worked-over Powless.

 

[AmRacer]

Several of us were suggesting that with 10 km to go, it would definitely have increased Visma’s chances and if it didn’t work than Wout could still
Sprint against a more worked-over Powless.

Visma could have won, but not Wout. Powless must choose a wheel to suck, and it would've been Wouts. So one of the other two would win with a few km solo ride.

 

[Rackham]

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??!!

I blame Michael Bay.

Couple of years ago i was not amused with WVA for gifting Laporte Gent-Wevelgem. Today i'm not amused with him, not for backing himself. But for backing himself cause he wanted to strike back at the naysayers. I am always baffled by how how much some riders care about outside critique. Obviously i have no idea what being a celebrity whose very move is watched feels like. But you can't win no matter what. So let ppl critique, and let it all just slide off you.

Even winning the sprint today versus Powless wouldn't have really done much with regards to how WvA is perceived versus Pog or MvdP. It would have been a nice boost for sure but all that would have been reset on Sunday.

I just think there's absolutely nothing that justifies throwing away the win the way they did today. And it could be a while before Benoot gets this sort of opportunity again.

 

[Gigs_98]

Lmao after ten years it really happened again hahahaha. Wout Van Aert is not beating the allegations