That was an amazing win for Wout van Aert at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. It wasn’t hard to see what the emotions meant for him, his family and his team, and my heart was with him too.
Van Aert has had such bad luck at Roubaix in the past, at bad times and crucial moments, as well as all the other accidents and setbacks he’s had, so to come back and to win it, my God, it was an amazing ride.
He was the one who initiated the attacks with that leading group, and he was on the limit at times when Tadej Pogačar really pushed him, but it just shows that when you’re a big champion, you can be really under pressure, but you can still dig so deep and keep on believing. That’s exactly what he did – you could see the efforts he had to make on some sections with Pogačar and how close he was riding, but tactically he rode just a perfect race.
That said, when it was just the two of them in that long finale, I really couldn’t pick a winner. Pogačar was putting Van Aert in difficulty a lot of times, and he kept trying on every long section until there just wasn’t anywhere left to try.
Even when they got to the finish, and I realised Pogačar was going to bank on his sprint – which he can do very well at the end of a long race – I was afraid he might beat Van Aert, because my heart really was for Wout, because of his story and what he’s been through.
I don’t think there’s anybody in the peloton who doesn’t like Wout van Aert – other riders probably wouldn’t have as much support from their rivals as he did yesterday.
Take nothing away from Pogačar, but when a rider like that who wins so often is up against a guy who has been fighting for a victory for so long, you do start feeling like Van Aert deserves a win. But it’s nothing against Pogačar: he’s an unbelievable…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…