The more the years pass, the more the absence of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix weighs on the mind of Wout Van Aert, who is more determined than ever to win them this season. But the Belgian champion that the growing shadow of the Slovenian champion now hangs above the cobbles. He is ready for the confrontation.
At the start of the season, after a new injury following a fall which spoiled the end of the 2024 year and delayed its start for 2025 Wout Van Aert has set itself a very clear flight plan. The Belgian champion absolutely wants to raise his arms on the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, two races which are sorely missing from his list of achievements.
Van Aert goes all-in for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix
During the press conference to present the team Visma-Lease A Bike, Van Aert made no secret of it, as reported by cyclismactu.net : « I want to try to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. That will be my main goal in the spring.” The leader of the Dutch team on the Ardennes does not hide the loss he feels at still not having won these two monuments: “I have great ambition for these two races and I find it very logical. It would be weird if that wasn’t the case. I won almost all the other classics, it’s normal that these two races are an ambition. I showed that it is possible for me. I want to do everything to win them one day. And if I don’t win them, I know I will have done everything to win ».
“With Pogacar returning to the cobbles…”
Et Wout Van Aert knows that a new major obstacle now stands in its way: Tadej Pogacarwhose presence at the start of the Tour of Flanders is well and truly scheduled and who is increasingly also thinking about the cobblestones of Roubaix. For Van Aertthe clash with the Slovenian is inevitable if he wants to win: “ Obviously, you have to progress every year because everyone is improving and young riders are coming to the forefront. And then, there is Pogacar who returns to the cobbles… So we will have to be better ».
