The semi-classic still had 67 kilometers to go when the result from the Dwars Vlaanderen gate became completely uninspiring in less than a second. This was not caused by the accident itself, where the driver hit the asphalt at high speed, almost 80 kilometers per hour, on a downhill road.
Most surprising were the names of the fallen riders: Mads Pedersen, Biniam Girmay, Gianni Vermeersch, Jasper Stuyven and the biggest of all, Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike. He has a broken collarbone and a number of ribs and can achieve his biggest, almost obsessive, targets this year: the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
What happened in that split second; Van Aert’s teammates Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot were close but not sure. “It went so fast,” the two said afterward. Benoot thought he felt a tap from Van Aert’s front wheel to his rear wheel. Jorgenson thought his leader made contact with Lidl-Trek rider Alex Kirsch. The American saw Van Aert fall and knew immediately: ‘Wout is out of the match.’
About the Author
Robert Giebels is a sports reporter from de Volkskrant and writes about cycling and Formula 1.
The fact that Jorgenson won, with crucial help from Benoot, was secondary. They said they were especially concerned about their friend, who had been taken away in an ambulance. After they finished they heard Van Aert groaning loudly on the ground for several minutes after falling.
There is no grand prize
Crying, Jorgenson and Benoot knew, was not something cyclists tended to do, and our all-round Belgian rider, who rarely crashed, certainly didn’t do it. Presumably, in addition to physical pain, Van Aert also felt the pain of months of lonely training and high-altitude training without a wife and children, which lost their meaning in an instant.
With a distance of 188 kilometres, compared to 271 kilometers for the Tour of Flanders, the ‘Dwars’ should just be a dress rehearsal for a monumental top prize for Van Aert. If a Flemish rider wins the Tour, you won’t get any higher as a cyclist.
Van Aert will ride for the sixth time on Sunday and is finally in top form, for his first win in the Flemish high mass. What happened in 2020 was particularly painful, as the Belgian lost the millimeter sprint to anyone other than Mathieu van der Poel. He is the big favorite on Sunday for his third win on Tour.
battlefield
Especially considering the names of other people who fell in love with Van Aert. In the last race, Lidl-Trek formed a strong collective capable of taking Pedersen, who won Gent-Wevelgem from Van der Poel on Sunday, to victory. And if it doesn’t work with the Dane, it will work with Stuyven, the Belgian who won Milan-San Remo in 2021.
Just like Van Aert, Stuyven didn’t take another step and his collarbone was also broken. Pedersen managed to hoist himself onto his bike, but didn’t finish, nor did his in-form teammate Hirsch.
Girmay, whose last season was a forgettable one but looks to be on his way back to the Tour, didn’t even try to get on his bike. A bright spot for the Eritrean: he didn’t break anything.
Vermeersch, Van der Poel’s key teammate on Sunday, also did not reach the finish line on Wednesday. Motorcycle TV put the Belgian in full view when he rolled over and landed on his back in a very painful manner.
Controversial route
During the race, Flanders Classics, organizers of the Ronde and Dwars door Vlaanderen, issued a statement. There was every reason to do this, as the road where it all happened, Ninoofsesteenweg on the border of Flanders and Wallonia, was removed from this year’s Tour route due to unsafe conditions. The cause was a serious accident at the last edition of this cycling monument. That fall saw Girmay as a major casualty, ruining his season.
Why is the section of the N48 that is supposed to take motorists to the Kanarieberg climb still part of the Dwars door Vlaanderen route? It is not a big, busy and important race like the Ronde, Flanders Classics CEO Tomas Van Den Spiegel explained to Sporza. ‘Sadly, this autumn showed that we were right to remove this trip to Kanarieberg from the Tour.’
It is remarkable that Van Aert, Stuyven and Vermeersch were included in last week’s survey Latest news shows the lightning-fast descent towards Kanarieberg as one of the most dangerous courses in the Flemish spring race. Stress is a factor, they say, as is a pebble on the side of the road.
Tim Declercq of battered Lidl-Trek delivered Sporza the dangers of wide, clean roads as things went wrong on Wednesday for the second year in a row. It was precisely the width that made it difficult, he said, because the entire fast-moving peloton wanted to be at the front to turn sharply to the right, up the Kanarieberg.
“There is a big push forward and there are so many strong riders,” said Declerq. ‘You want to jump into a hole, but sometimes there’s no room.’ Braking then becomes the wisest thing to do, but the driver can forget about a good position. ‘If you brake, you get lost. That makes the sport very dangerous.’
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