If Roglic owes Van Aert a service, he will do that in a race where they are actually teammates. Not in a race where they aren't.
The whole of Belgium was mad when Nys didn't ride behind Groenendaal, because they were teammates. Now they are mad Roglic doesn't ride for Van Aert behind Alaphilippe...
Bit of selective anger based on pure nationalism is my take.
Make up your mind otherwise
Not only was this NOT the point that was being made, you also managed to show yourself quite the hypocrite here.
It was an example of how "deals" like this have been inherent to cycling since the very beginning. The Nys/Groenendaal thing isn't something from the 50's. It's from 2000. The Viviani/Lampaert thing was from 2019. Furthermore, Nys was told
before the race by the owner of the team (not just Jan Raas, but the actual guy from the bank!), that they weren't allowed to chase teammates. Nys didn't owe Groenendaal anything. Groenendaal had not been busting his balls for Nys weeks before (quite the contrary). Yet i didn't see an outcry of injustice coming from the Dutch media or Dutch fans back then. So clearly, the Dutch think this kind of deal is ok? So make up your mind, Dutch people, is it ok or not? Or is it only ok in case a Dutchman is benefiting? So if "the whole of Belgium" is selectively angry based on nationalism, that would make the "the whole of the Netherlands" selective hypocrites based on nationalism. By your take.
So in line with the oldskool ways, expecting that Roglic, who had roughly 0.1% chance to get on the podium unless the others crashed, could have helped his "friend" out who had busted his balls for him, making his employer very happy in the process (ironically, we're talking about the team that was founded on the ashes of Nys/Groenendaal's team) is not al all such an outlandish think to do. It is furthermore because of what happened in Sint-Michielsgestel 2000, and Alkmaar 2019 (and trust me, there are plenty more similar stories) that in Belgium there is an outrage, the idea that "now that it's our turn, we're stabbed in the back". Whether you think that's ok or not, it is an emotional response.
And stuff like this happens all the time at WCC's. Guys "not riding" after a friend from the same team but from another country is considered normal, while in fact it is the exact same thing. It has always bothered me, like i said before i'm not a fan of these kinds of deals, it's only good for national drama. But it has been going on for ages, and it is hard to control. Is a rider giving his all? Is he making a decision with his country in mind or his brand team? In this case, we can't even tell if Roglic tried or didn't. But please, stop the pretentious bullsh!t by acting your country (whichever it is) is better or "above it" and as if this is a Belgian issue. While professional journalists should know better, the outrage is emotional and most people will realize that after a few hours/days. However, the hate that is now directed towards Belgians, saying "Belgians are nationalists" (like the deleted tweet from FR, and all the tweets praising it) are not. And for me, that is a much bigger issue. And the fact that people are ignoring that, or not even aware of what that means, might be a bigger issue still.
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