Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[canina82]

Van Aert is mostly explained by his ability flattening out earlier than some others due to Visma being further ahead of the pack in 2020-2022/2023 than they are now.

And it really doesn't help him that Van der Poel and Pogacar are just more naturally gifted at RVV. Van Aert doesn't really retain the explosiveness super deep into a race.

I don't think it's explosiveness. He just doesn't have the relative power over and over again to match MVP and specially Pogacar.
Oude Kwaremont is not an explosive climb and he was dropped there in 2021, 2025, 2026.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I didn't. For me it's impossible to know how much he lost in those crashes.

1 - he was clearly the best rider in 2020 (he adapted better than MVP for example) after his crash in the 2019 TdF. I don't really know much he was hampered by this crash.

2 - His crash in DDV was after a total dominance of MVP in E3. WVA wasn't clearly in good shape to compete with MVP in both PR and RVV.

3 - I think his 2025 season was bad due to his crash in the Vuelta. Without the crash, would he be better in PR and win it? I don't think so but it's just an opinion. RVV is out of reach due to Pogacar.

Again, I can't really say how would be his palmares without those crashes.

Of course we can’t say. It was more of a vibes post than a scientific one to be honest. He really should have won 2020 Olympic gold, too. Carapaz the knave stole that one (not begrudging him that; I miss when he was strong enough to convert his wily aggression into big wins).

It’s all just opinion and ultimately your palmares are the facts that matter over time, but I think of Wout as being peers to the Sagans, Boonens, Cancellaras and at times MVdP but he’s currently at a fraction of their big wins. Just feels wrong to me, but I just happen to like the big guy.

 

[Sciatic]

Wout was a monster in 2022, it's possible. It likely also affected him for Paris-Roubaix. I think 5+ is a stretch but he has come very close a LOT of times and has missed entire campaigns through injuries.

Wout’s accomplishments can’t be measured solely in his palmares (which are actually pretty impressive); consider the ride he did to help Yates win the Giro last year, or how helped drive the front group for Vingegaard in the Tourmelet Tour stage in 2023. And the 2 wins on the Champs carry a cache that isn’t represented by “Tour stage win” in palmares.

 

[canina82]

Of course we can’t say. It was more of a vibes post than a scientific one to be honest. He really should have won 2020 Olympic gold, too. Carapaz the knave stole that one (not begrudging him that; I miss when he was strong enough to convert his wily aggression into big wins).

It’s all just opinion and ultimately your palmares are the facts that matter over time, but I think of Wout as being peers to the Sagans, Boonens, Cancellaras and at times MVdP but he’s currently at a fraction of their big wins. Just feels wrong to me, but I just happen to like the big guy.

Looking only to monuments, Sagan won 2. But I get what you are saying even if I don't agree.
Never forget others like MVP and Pogacar should have less monuments in order to Wout wins more and this doesn't feel right to me.

 

[Davesta]

Of course we can’t say. It was more of a vibes post than a scientific one to be honest. He really should have won 2020 Olympic gold, too. Carapaz the knave stole that one (not begrudging him that; I miss when he was strong enough to convert his wily aggression into big wins).

It’s all just opinion and ultimately your palmares are the facts that matter over time, but I think of Wout as being peers to the Sagans, Boonens, Cancellaras and at times MVdP but he’s currently at a fraction of their big wins. Just feels wrong to me, but I just happen to like the big guy.

I agree with the vibe.

On the days he’s shone the brightest, he’s been a world apart from others - he didn’t just win Tour stages; he rode the entire peloton off his wheel on a 4th cat climb, he rode climbers off his wheel on the second ascent of Ventoux, he rode Pogacar off his wheel on a HC mountain!
He’s clearly a class above almost all of the peloton - there’s only a handful of other riders who have the skill and the power to simply ride away from the peloton. Unfortunately for Van Aert, two of those others have been slightly better at doing that in Flanders & Roubaix…and it also seems that Van Aert does it better relative to others after a few days of back to back racing, rather than in a one day race.

But when Van Aert has one of those days, he’s quite incredible. And he does it over a variety of terrain that only Pogacar can match. He’s probably the second best all-rounder (behind Pogacar) that cycling has seen in decades. But unfortunately for him, whilst his all-round ability has resulted in some epic performances, it hasn’t translated into so many big one-day wins. Hence the vibe.

 

[canina82]

I agree with the vibe.

On the days he’s shone the brightest, he’s been a world apart from others - he didn’t just win Tour stages; he rode the entire peloton off his wheel on a 4th cat climb, he rode climbers off his wheel on the second ascent of Ventoux, he rode Pogacar off his wheel on a HC mountain!
He’s clearly a class above almost all of the peloton - there’s only a handful of other riders who have the skill and the power to simply ride away from the peloton. Unfortunately for Van Aert, two of those others have been slightly better at doing that in Flanders & Roubaix…and it also seems that Van Aert does it better relative to others after a few days of back to back racing, rather than in a one day race.

But when Van Aert has one of those days, he’s quite incredible. And he does it over a variety of terrain that only Pogacar can match. He’s probably the second best all-rounder (behind Pogacar) that cycling has seen in decades. But unfortunately for him, whilst his all-round ability has resulted in some epic performances, it hasn’t translated into so many big one-day wins. Hence the vibe.

There is no doubt many riders in the 70s with his skillset won a lot of monuments and GTs (e.g. RdV).

 

[Red Rick]

Of course we can’t say. It was more of a vibes post than a scientific one to be honest. He really should have won 2020 Olympic gold, too. Carapaz the knave stole that one (not begrudging him that; I miss when he was strong enough to convert his wily aggression into big wins).

It’s all just opinion and ultimately your palmares are the facts that matter over time, but I think of Wout as being peers to the Sagans, Boonens, Cancellaras and at times MVdP but he’s currently at a fraction of their big wins. Just feels wrong to me, but I just happen to like the big guy.

I mean every single rider top rider today would mop up monument after monument with the occasional GT for variety in with their current ability in the age of Boonen and Cancellara.