For all of Wout van Aert’s greatness and in spite of his repertoire of skills, doubt always follows him around. It doesn’t matter the race, the time of the year or the context, there’s always a nagging thought at the back of the mind that the powers that be will prevent the legendary Belgian from succeeding. Crashes and injuries – and plenty of them – allied to second places – all 51 in his professional career – sow doubt and uncertainty. He always bounces back from setbacks and challenges, but there’s always scepticism about whether this time his time at the top of the sport really is a thing in the past.
And so to the 2026 season. Doubt, again, stalks Van Aert’s every move and every moment. He broke his ankle at the turn of the year, his Classics campaign surely in tatters. Not so. He was on the bike within a week, and racing two months later. Wout van Aert doing Wout van Aert things. He was 10th at Strade Bianche, raced Tirreno-Adriatico, and then attacked for third at Milan-Sanremo, a result that was barely noticed given that the winner Tadej Pogačar, understandably, seized all the headlines.
For those that did notice, it was a sign that Van Aert was fully recovered from his latest injury and ought to be a major contender in the cobbled Classics. But this is Van Aert: you can never be sure. You just don’t know what might befall him, what cruel twist is next in store. In Flanders Field, a race he won in 2021 when it was still known as Gent-Wevelgem, was his next race, a prelude to Dwars doors Vlaanderen and the two big ones: Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
The race didn’t end with a Van Aert victory, a first win in these glorious attritional sufferfests since he triumphed at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2024. It concluded with Jasper Philipsen winning a bunch sprint, his and Alpecin-Premier Tech’s first ever success in this race. But the story of the race is that all that doubt is once again unjustified: Van Aert is back, really, definitely, absolutely back, and his eternal rivalry with Mathieu van der Poel is entering its latest chapter.
Is Van Aert back to his best? (Image: Jasper Jacobs / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years, the main billing at the Classics has featured Van der Poel and Pogačar, with Van Aert playing a supporting actor’s role, in the shot but out of focus. Problem is: Van Aert likes to be in the spotlight. He can’t nudge either Van der Poel or Pogačar off-stage, but he can share the space in which they operate. After all, for so many years, this space was Van Aert’s space, too.
With 58km remaining at In Flanders Field, on the short but steep climb of the Kemmelberg, Van Aert shot out of the peloton, bringing with him only Van der Poel and Florian Vermeersch – the latter still surely bitter about Friday's E3 Saxo Classic debacle. The early breakaway of five were caught within a kilometre, and a bit later over the more modest Baneberg the lead group was dwindled down to just two: Van der Poel and Van Aert.
This is how it used to be. This is how, if you ask many, it ought to be. The two greatest Classics, cyclocross and all-rounder riders of their generation together at the front of a bike race. Working in unison to prevent being caught, but without a word said, just the odd flick of the elbow. Greatest of foes, determined as ever to record their latest victory over one another, but with immense mutual respect. It’s the childhood rivalry that has morphed into a neverending adult ding-dong.
The Monument count between the pair, once a focus of so much scrutiny and debate, is now heavily lopsided in Van der Poel’s favour: eight to Van Aert’s solitary one. But seeing them here, riding as one past the many war cemeteries, was a reminder that they’re still the biggest and closest of rivals. Van der Poel has won the argument over who’s the most successful Classics rider of the pair, but Van Aert can still defeat him.
As the kilometres ticked down and the chasing pack behind encroached on their slender lead, the pair kept believing that the race would be settled by a two-up sprint. Van Aert, you’d have thought, would be the most confident of winning. Alec Segaert joining their escape late on should have assisted but possibly hamstrung them, and the mass bunch sprint was finally given the green light under the flamme rouge, officially ending Van Aert’s and Van der Poel’s own chances.
Philipsen was the fastest in the ensuing sprint, aided himself by Van der Poel who quickly configured his services to act as a leadout man, but the tale of the race is that for all the doubt and all the cynicism, Van Aert is most definitely in race-winning shape. That he is is nothing short of remarkable. “I’m not fully confident, of course not,” he said in January, when asked if he’d be in race-winning condition at the Classics given that his ankle was broken. “It’s a complicated injury: it's fractured and I’ve also ripped off the ligament. If I was a runner or anything else I’d be out for months. Hopefully as a cyclist it will be good enough but at this point I cannot say.” We have the answer: it is good enough. He is good enough.
Flemish Cycling Holy Week has begun with one titan (Van der Poel) winning E3, and the other titan reminding everyone that next Sunday’s De Ronde doesn’t necessarily just have to be another installment of the Mathieu and Tadej Show. What odds on Van Aert atoning for his errors in last year’s Dwars door Vlaanderen this coming Wednesday?
Cover Image: Jasper Jacobs / Belga / AFP via Getty Images
