Needless to say, he did the right thing. In dantesque conditions, he held his line from start to finish. He took the right lines to enter the turns. Solid throughout the effort, Wout van Aert did better than Filippo Ganna, the double world champion in the discipline. The contract was fulfilled and when he sat down in the chair reserved for the best provisional time in the time trial, we thought that no one would dislodge him.
It was to count without an Yves Lampaert worthy of the level which propelled him twice to the title of Belgian champion of the discipline (in 2017 and 2021). “I came to impose myselfsaid the one who did not feel the slightest pain in his knee. I had left behind some great customers. So I admit that I thought it would be enough to impose myself. But Yves was stronger, hats off to him.”
Beautiful loser, the Campinois did not hesitate to congratulate the winner of the day and there was no question for him of looking for any excuse. “To mention the weather conditions to explain this second place would not be correct. It is true that it rained less following my visit but the ground remained wet despite everything. I knew that, on paper, Yves was the last real specialist. I was right to be suspicious.”
Second five seconds behind Flandrien, van Aert will try to steal the yellow jersey from him in the coming days. “Maybe I can get there by taking bonuses, but before that I’m going to have to turn the button because I’m very disappointed.”
