In the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, there's a painting titled 'Fishing for Souls' by Adriaen van de Venne, from 1614. It shows different religious denominations battling for believers in a river, the Protestants from the northern Netherlands on the left bank, and the Catholics from the south of the country on the right.
The Protestants, who would go onto form the Dutch Republic, look to be more successful at "fishing for souls" in this allegory, while the Catholics on the right, who would eventually become Belgium, are less fortunate. The rivalry between Belgium and the Netherlands is nothing new, it has been going on for four hundred years, ever since the reformation, and the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch Republic and Spain over the future of the Low Countries.
The seemingly never-ending battle between the Dutch Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and the Belgian Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) is just one part of that. Never mind the fact that Van Aert rides for a Dutch team and Van der Poel rides for a Belgian one, the rivalry is there. It started in cyclo-cross, and has been raging on the road for over four seasons now.
At the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, Van der Poel struck once again for the orange side of this divide. Like his Dutch forefathers, he has been hauling in a much bigger catch recently. It feels like a slightly unbalanced rivalry.
Since the last time Van Aert won one of cycling’s Monuments, Van der Poel has won four. Last year, he beat Van Aert at Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and the World Championships.
The victory at E3 was just the latest where Van der Poel has just looked like a step above his biggest rival. His attack on the Paterberg, with 41km to go, was timed to perfection, even if it was aided by Van Aert crashing at almost exactly the same time.
"It changed everything," Van Aert said post-race. "It was a long chase. It was a stupid crash, and very unfortunate for the rest of the race."
For his part, Van der Poel said that he didn't realise the Visma-Lease a Bike rider had hit the deck; either way, once he had a gap, it looked unlikely that he would ever be brought back, and so it proved.
It appears Van Aert has a mountain to climb to challenge the Dutchman, who was racing for just the second time this year. However, this was his first race back after an intense block of altitude training; perhaps he needs a couple of races to get into the rhythm for the biggest goals, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Van Aert, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Belgium, will hope that he did not hurt himself too badly in his crash on a Paterberg which had been made slippery by rain. The last thing he needs is a complicated run-in to the races that will define his season. Next will be Dwars door Vlaanderen, then Flanders, for a chance to bounce back.
Van der Poel, meanwhile, is seemingly already at the level where he can beat the field at will. He will head to Gent-Wevelgem knowing he is in top form, before Flanders.
"The team were incredibly strong today, we always have one goal in mind," he said. "I'm super happy, I didn't expect it, I thought I needed a few more races to get to this level. I hope I can recover ok for Sunday [Gent-Wevelgem], because I was pretty cooked in the end... I'm super happy to win it, especially the way I won it."
The Dutchman will hope that he has not already shown his hand, and can go on to take yet another Monument over the next fortnight. On this form, it is difficult to imagine much other than Van der Poel fishing another victory.
