Two or three monuments could be with Van Aert if they had not coincided with Van der Poel
When Wout Van Aert is asked after the World Cup in Glasgow, a couple of weeks ago, what his record would be if he had not met Mathieu Van der Poel.
The answer was expected: «I prefer not to think«.
Better not to do it, at least in the results aspect, because If you think about the good this rivalry has done you, surely you don’t dislike it so much.
Wout Van Aert is a giant of his time who has seen fit to coincide with another, Mathieu Van der Poel, in a parallel trajectory that is difficult to imagine in history, since they have been competing since they were youths.
In their numerous crossings, they have left a sign of such a bitter rivalry that they have finished both first and second in many races, and not just any race.
Both have extended their rivalry in cyclocross like we could not imagine, from minute one, from that same European from Glasgow that both ended up behind Matteo Trentin on a rainy afternoon and apocalypse that marked a simply prodigious parallel race.
Part of the keys to the change of pace that cycling has experienced resides in this clash, everything much faster, more demanding and therefore more spectacular
The year ahead, this 2023, will conclude again with the feeling that Van Aert has not given what we all expected.
Or maybe what we expected was not realistic.
It may be, and in view of the Belgian’s results, perhaps it was too much to hope for, which it pains me to admit.
There is a different Van Aert coinciding with Van der Poel.
When the two are not there in front, Van Aert has starred in monologues like the same Ghent-Wevelgem that he gives to Laporte.
But when they are both there, Van der Poel passes sandpaper to Van Aert’s list of winners.
Sin Van der Poel and concurso, Van Aert would be much higher in the history of the cyclocross world championship but beware of the classic record that the Dutchman has deprived the Belgian.
That famous edition of the Tour of Flanders in October, resolved in a sprint handkerchief, I think it marks the pace of both.
Those weeks Van Aert was a hammer -Strade, San Remo and a stage in the Tour- that stops percussing just when he comes across the best version of his great rival.
Over the years, numerous crosses, protagonists of great races, and especially this year, with both at full speed in Paris-Roubaix -in Flanders Pogacar beat them both- and VDP taking him out of the wheel in the final section.
A bit like in the World Cup a fortnight ago, where I think that the differences between the two open up as clearly as I never wanted to see and not because of Van der Poel, who falls in love, but because of Van Aert, who is a weakness.
With only a monument, Van Aert could have had one more if his rival had not mediatednot only for accompanying him on the podium, but also for the way of competing with him.
Van der Poel is a machine that has improved and has been efficiently greased over the years to the point that playing races on his ground, coming up with options for him to launch his devastating attack, is suicide.
I think that, with the big part of the season now over, it is time for Van Aert to reflect and see that his self-confidence in the Tour, the best race, let us not forget, could be the starting point to balance a scale that was very tilted towards his rival. .
Image: ASO/Pauline Ballet
2023-08-20 22:02:11
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