'Failure is not an option' were the words plastered across the sports section of Nieuwsblad on Friday morning, above an image of Wout van Aert. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider's face was on the cover, too, as a whole nation waited to see how the Belgian would fare in the first big Classics test at E3 Saxo Classic.
With Van Aert as the protagonist and Matteo Jorgenson as a very worthy co-leader, failure really was not an option, but that's how Visma-Lease a Bike's race panned out as their riders rolled in, cold and wet, to the finish in Harelbeke. Fifteenth for Van Aert, a slightly more respectable ninth for Jorgenson.
