After the nightmare in the Vuelta: “A European or World Championship with or without Wout van Aert is a world of difference”

And suddenly the Tour of Spain has a bitter aftertaste for the (Belgian) cycling fans. Wout van Aert’s snoektocht has ended abruptly on the way to Lagos de Covadonga. Renaat Schotte and José De Cauwer sighed deeply during their analysis: “It was a stupid fall, but Van Aert couldn’t do anything about it.”

Renaat: “How unfortunate is the – literal – loss of Wout van Aert?”

José: “It’s a real shame. It’s a loss at the moment when you’re, let’s say, working on a Wout van Aert 2.0. He had returned and he was completely fine.”

“It was a stupid fall, but that’s always the case. It wasn’t his fault. It’s a real shame.”

Renaat: “I know it’s easy to say from the sidelines, but was the crash avoidable? Should he have been in the lead?”

José: “He had done that after the first climb. There he descended at his own pace. He rode ahead for a while and then let himself be caught.”

“On tiptoes he picked up points on the second climb and let Felix Engelhardt ride ahead of him on the descent. After that fall you can say: “Wout, you ride so well downhill.” It was also raining. And then you get this.”

Renaat: “Some people will say: ‘He shouldn’t have gotten involved in that battle for the mountain points.'”

José: “I’ve been saying that for 14 days, so to speak. I wouldn’t have done it as a team, but to be clear: that fall has nothing to do with it. Although I would have been more careful with my efforts.”

A Belgian team with or without Wout van Aert at a championship, that is a world of difference. Now you have one trump card and you can race in one way.

Jose De Cauwer

Renaat: “We can’t say anything about his injuries at the moment, but suppose he misses the European Championship (15 September) and the World Cup (29 September). How big are the consequences for the national team?”

José: “Very big. A Belgian team with or without Wout, that’s a world of difference. Now you have one trump card and you can race in one way.”

“We have always had the luxury of – look at Paris – Van Aert countering Mathieu van der Poel. Remco Evenepoel has made perfect use of that. Wout controls the classic racing events, Remco uses his time trial.”

Renaat: “At the World Cup it could have been the other way around, with Van Aert being able to benefit from Evenepoel’s Olympic status.”

José: “Our chances have decreased by half. At least. Suppose that Van Aert and Evenepoel together form 100 percent, then it is a different matter now with only Evenepoel. The control is completely different.”

Renaat: “Today we had a battle on 2 fronts. Ben O’Connor remains in the red with 5 seconds. So the battle for the overall victory and the podium remains open.”

José: “I already said on Sunday that O’Connor lost his jersey. You see a slight decline every time. It’s not much, but there are 3 to 5 better than him.”

“So it’s coming, but who will be on the podium and in what order, that’s another story.”

“There are still two very tough stages on Friday and Saturday. A lot can still happen then. Falling through the ice on day 2 of a major tour is something different than in the 19th stage.”

Tour of Spain ranking