Wout van Aert felt strong but was left frustrated after a late puncture at Le Samyn, and hinted it was far from random. The Visma–Lease a Bike rider had been riding well all day, only for his chances to unravel about ten kilometres from the finish when he struck glass and blew a tyre, according to VTM, as reported by Wielerflits.
After puncturing, Van Aert briefly took a teammate’s bike before switching to a spare from the team car, but by then a decisive gap had opened to the peloton. It was a lousy end to his first race back, and another instance of bad luck for the Belgian…or was it?
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
“Suddenly there were a lot of shards of glass,” he said to VTM as reported by Wielerflits. “It can’t have just appeared there by accident. That smells like sabotage.”
Sporza spoke to the organizers about Van Aert’s claims and quickly kiboshed any possibility that something funky was going on.
“Sabotage? Did Wout say that?” race director Ludwig De Winter said. “I have to admit that I have not followed the reactions after the race closely, but we have not heard anything about shards of glass or sabotage.”
Wout can’t stand it, he knows you planned it
He went on to say that in a race like Le Samyn, punctures have been common.
“That was also the case yesterday, especially on or just after the cobblestone sections. But I think Wout’s flat tire is due to an unfortunate coincidence,” he said. “We already had a debriefing with the police and security services yesterday and nothing suspicious was reported. No, as far as we know, there has been no incident or deliberate action on our course.”
He noted that racing on a circuit naturally adds complexity, but pointed out, echoing the Belgian superstar, that they had ridden through that section seven times and it wasn’t as though punctures were happening there repeatedly.
Oh my God, it’s a mirage
He asked, “If you assume sabotage, then not only Van Aert would have been the victim, would it?”
De Winter did feel for the Belgian — especially given his recent string of bad luck. “It’s a racing incident as often happens and it’s especially unfortunate for Wout himself.”
Van Aert’s next race is Strade Bianche, he won the condensed version of the race at the 2025 Giro d’Italia. But he’ll face some stiff opposition with Tadej Pogačar, Isaac Del Toro, Tom Pidcock and Paul Seixas, to name…
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