Gent - Wevelgem in Flanders Field 2023 March 26, 260.9 km (1.WT)

[Red Rick]

Van Aert also gifted the Tour to a teammate last year. He's a gracious guy.

But it might hurt his palmares, if he can't follow Van der Poel and/or Pogačar in the bigger races.

If he doesn't win De Ronde or Roubaix he's gonna get criticized regardless and GW won't save him.

 

[titan31]

That last 40k sent me to sleep. Was a rough watch

 

[Mayomaniac]

Tbh Wout doesn't win enough of the big races to afford giving away something like GW.

Hard to argue against that one.

 

[tobydawq]

Yeah, an actual sprint between the 2 to settle things would have been interesting . Not a fan of the team car deciding who wins or teammates holding hands in one day races (gifting a stage win in a gt after dropping your main rivals is something else).

I agree. But with the team hashtag being #samenwinnen, it would be a bit strange if they sprinted for it even if most people would like to see it.

 

[LesMcLuffAlot]

Gave him the win so he will work 100% for him in Flanders.

 

[tobydawq]

Hard to argue against that one.

Actually not that hard.

 

[Jagartrott]

Some of you guys are over-analyzing with who did how much work today and past races. Van Aert already won G-W, and he probably doesn't care too much about the extra win there. His goals are elsewhere. So it was probably fairly easy to give that gift if you are somewhat of a generous type.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Haven't seen this much salt in a cycling race since the 2019 Vuelta TTT.

Ironically, that day could not have gone more differently than today's for Jumbo.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Tbh Wout doesn't win enough of the big races to afford giving away something like GW.

Van Aert thinks his palmares is like that of Boonen, lol.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Van Aert wins: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He could have let his teammate take some glory, but he's too selfish for that!"

Van Aert gets second: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He shouldn't have let his teammate take some glory, he's selfish for that!"

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Van Aert wins: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He could have let his teammate take some glory, but he's too selfish for that!"

Van Aert gets second: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He shouldn't have let his teammate take some glory, he's selfish for that!"

Even the biggest Van Aert hater and the guy who started the "selfish Van Aert" meme, would not have said or expected he should give away a win of THIS calibre.

 

[tobydawq]

Van Aert wins: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He could have let his teammate take some glory, but he's too selfish for that!"

Van Aert gets second: "Prima donna, egotistical ride by Wout. He shouldn't have let his teammate take some glory, he's selfish for that!"

True but it's probably not the same people who say both thinks. It's a bit odd to me why he is so divisive.

 

[BR2]

Some of you guys are over-analyzing with who did how much work today and past races. Van Aert already won G-W, and he probably doesn't care too much about the extra win there. His goals are elsewhere. So it was probably fairly easy to give that gift if you are somewhat of a generous type.

I don't care if van Aert or Laporte has this win in the end. I am just sick of über-teams dominating races so hard they don't even care anymore about such "minor" wins. Like the rock scissor situation. And GW is more important than the Tour of Slovenia. After Roglic already gifted Evenepoel the win today (which I was partly okay with because Evenepoel worked the whole time) this is the second time today a Jumbo just decides "here, you can have it". There are certain moments when a "gift" is appropriate. And then there are some that feel like arrogance towards the viewer and the other teams to me.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Actually not that hard.

One Monument. Strade & Amstel. Then it's "just" these cobbled classics, E3, GW, and Omloop.

Impressive, sure, but in the context of being consistently rated as the best, most versatile rider in the peloton by many it's not as much as it should probably be.

 

[Sciatic]

Wout realized that it’s rare that the rider who wins GW also wins Ronde (Sagan and Boonen did just one of the 3(?) times when they won Gent). So he wasn’t being that generous after all

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

I don't care if van Aert or Laporte has this win in the end. I am just sick of über-teams dominating races so hard they don't even care anymore about such "minor" wins. Like the rock scissor situation. And GW is more important than the Tour of Slovenia. After Roglic already gifted Evenepoel the win today (which I was partly okay with because Evenepoel worked the whole time) this is the second time today a Jumbo just decides "here, you can have it". There are certain moments when a "gift" is appropriate. And then there are some that feel like arrogance towards the viewer and the other teams to me.

Fine, but in this case Jumbo wins anyway, so isn't it quite different?

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I don't care if van Aert or Laporte has this win in the end. I am just sick of über-teams dominating races so hard they don't even care anymore about such "minor" wins. Like the rock scissor situation. And GW is more important than the Tour of Slovenia. After Roglic already gifted Evenepoel the win today (which I was partly okay with because Evenepoel worked the whole time) this is the second time today a Jumbo just decides "here, you can have it". There are certain moments when a "gift" is appropriate. And then there are some that feel like arrogance towards the viewer and the other teams to me.

...umprecedented times, these:

 

[Tobi]

Awesome ride by the 2 Jumbo riders.

I have to agree I think Wout should think more about his palmares. The record for this race is 3 wins.

Also I get the whole thing about now Laporte is more committed to help next Sunday but tbh he should be that anyways.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

True but it's probably not the same people who say both thinks. It's a bit odd to me why he is so divisive.

There's a venn diagram, and here, it's almost a circle.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Have there ever been multiple riders from the same team breaking away who sprinted for it in the end? Don‘t think so.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Van Aert thinks his palmares is like that of Boonen, lol.

Still a long way to go before he catches up on those 20+ Tour of Qatar wins!

 

[Sciatic]

Great to see Sep there happy with his result.

 

[jmdirt]

I don't care if van Aert or Laporte has this win in the end. I am just sick of über-teams dominating races so hard they don't even care anymore about such "minor" wins. Like the rock scissor situation. And GW is more important than the Tour of Slovenia. After Roglic already gifted Evenepoel the win today (which I was partly okay with because Evenepoel worked the whole time) this is the second time today a Jumbo just decides "here, you can have it". There are certain moments when a "gift" is appropriate. And then there are some that feel like arrogance towards the viewer and the other teams to me.

I don't disagree with most of what you are typing, but F the other teams, the other teams need to race smarter and harder. The other teams gifted this race as much as WvA did.

 

[Tim Cahill]

...umprecedented times, these:

I prefer this photo of Museeuw myself

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

...umprecedented times, these:

Apparently there was a lot of discussion about who should win and who should be 2nd here. Until Museeuw said: Stop the bikkering or i will drop the both of you on the next pavé. You can be sure the strongest of the three won that day. You don't give away a major win like this.