Well, it was all a bit off and wrong... but betting on Wout like they did in the first place was understandable. He was imperious during the Tour of Britain. He won every bunch sprint he contested, and after the juniors and women's races everybody was expecting a sprint of some kind, and he also outdid Alaphilippe on his absolute specialty. Before, during the Tour, he had shown incredible performances without perfect preperation. In the time trial he was only beaten by a few seconds by Ganna. Nothing hinted at him not being at his best today. Who knows if, had the French not opened the race so early, it would have become such a hard race?
I think the telling off towards Evenepoel beforehand by the media and pundits was bad. There was no reason to, I didn't see any reason to question his loyalty and you could have given him the task to see Wout as No1 today and still give him a bit more freedom today, just in case it comes in useful. This way it was clear from the beginning that Evenepoel had to "prove" his loyalty by burying any chance of his own.
If van Aert only told the others he didn't feel great long after he knew or suspected that's not good, but on the other hand I think he put a lot of pressure on himself and everyone else (including me, although he won't care about my thoughts, lol) did as well. It must be hard in that situation to say "I just don't have it". Maybe he should not have claimed so openly they should only go with one leader in the beginning...