12 months ago, an audible gasp rang out throughout the press room of Dwars door Vlaanderen as Belgium's home star Wout van Aert lay on the ground crying out in agony, having broken several bones and had his Classics season ended in the high-speed crash 67km from the finish. Fast forward to today, and that same gasp was let out by the thousands of Belgians at the finish in Waregem as they watched their hero suffer a similar nightmare, but this time in losing a Visma-Lease a Bike three-against-one in the sprint to Neilson Powless.
I was standing at the mixed zone ready to try and speak to whichever of Van Aert's team companions in the four-man move finished outside of the podium, with several questions primed about what such a positive result at Dwars means for Sunday's Tour of Flanders, especially considering their relatively poor results at E3 and Gent-Wevelgem.
