Not for the first time, Wout van Aert found himself in the loneliest place in all of Flanders, chasing Mathieu van der Poel. The eternal rivals squared up once again at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, and they tracked one another diligently through the Flemish Ardennes until their paths finally diverged on the stiff slopes of the Paterberg.
When the gradient bit, Van der Poel started to wind up for what proved to be the race-winning attack. Van Aert, inevitably, scrambled to respond to the world champion, but he made a rare bike-handling error, crashing as he flicked his bike from the smooth gutter back onto the rough cobbles.
Although Van Aert quickly remounted, Van der Poel had already taken flight. There were still 43km left to race, but the direction of travel already seemed to be irreversible. Even so, Van Aert wasn't ready to relent just yet, and he set out in lone pursuit of Van der Poel on the Oude Kwaremont after his Visma-Lease A Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson had stalled the chasing group.
At one point, Van Aert even managed to close to within 15 seconds of Van der Poel, but the effort was not a sustainable one and the rainbow jersey disappeared from the horizon on the cavernous Karnemelkbeekstraat. There ended the contest. Van Aert was joined by Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) in the run-in, but his deficit continued to grow. He rolled home a tired third, 1:34 behind Van der Poel.
When we saw Wout crash on the Paterberg, the feeling in the car was, 'Oh shit, what's happening today?
Directeur sportif Arthur van Dongen
"The crash was all-important for the race," Van Aert said as he waited to mount the podium. "It took a lot of strength to fight back. When I went after Van der Poel alone, we seemed to be evenly matched for a while, but after the Karnemelkbeekstraat it was hard to keep up my pace. I was glad I was able to stay in Jasper Stuyven's wheel for a little while to make it to the finish."
Van Aert conceded that the race-defining incident was entirely of his own making as he tried to dive past Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and follow Van der Poel's acceleration on the Paterberg. It remains to be seen if his injuries will have consequences for his Tour of Flanders challenge, but the incident ended his hopes of a third straight E3 win.
"It was an unfortunate crash, but it was a stupid mistake from myself. From then on, the whole race changed for me," Van Aert admitted. "It was pretty stupid: I wanted to jump up the cobblestones to gain some places, but I hit the edge of them.
"I actually fell harder than I thought, because I do have pain in my hip and in my elbow. My entire right side is battered, so we're going to get that checked out. The crash wasn't ideal, but Van der Poel was just super strong. He totally deserved to win."
Head-to-head
Van Aert and Van der Poel have enjoyed parallel careers, jousting first on the cyclocross circuit before bringing their talents onto the road in 2018, but the Dutchman has edged ahead in recent seasons in some departments. Van der Poel has six cyclocross world titles to Van Aert's three, and he has four Monuments to the Belgian's lone success at Milan-San Remo four years ago, not to mention the world title on the road he claimed in Glasgow last summer.
In head-to-head contests, too, Van der Poel now holds a decisive lead. The pair have raced against each other 24 times in one-day races since the 2018 European Championships 2018, and victory in Harelbeke saw Van der Poel extend his advantage in that never-ending duel to 16-8.
Van Aert's Paterberg crash conditioned everything here, of course, but Van der Poel had looked the sharper of the pair in the early skirmishes, most notably when he jumped clear on the Taaienberg with 80km still to race.
Later, however, Van Aert responded rather more swiftly when Van der Poel accelerated on the Boigneberg and Stationberg. "As we can see, Mathieu is super strong: he really made me hurt with his attacks today," Van Aert said.
Then again, that was perhaps only to be expected given that this was Van Aert's first race after a three-week altitude camp atop Mount Teide. Visma-Lease A Bike directeur sportif Arthur van Dongen was quietly adamant that his rider would have been able to follow Van der Poel on the Paterberg were it not for the crash.
"We think he could match Van der Poel on the Paterberg and Kwaremont, yes. I didn't speak yet with Wout, but that's our idea," said Van Dongen, who lamented his team's ill fortune across the day.
Per Strand Hagenes was forced to abandon after an early crash, while Dylan van Baarle and Tiesj Benoot were also beset by falls and punctures. For good measure, Jorgenson took a tumble en route to the bus after coming home in fifth. "When we saw Wout crash on the Paterberg, the feeling in the car was, 'Oh shit, what's happening today?'" Van Dongen said with a wry smile outside the team bus.
Even when Van Aert closed to within touching distance of Van der Poel, Van Dongen suspected the situation might prove irretrievable. "We knew it was difficult. Fifteen seconds is still a lot, and when the gap went out again, it was over. But still, I think it was a really good race from Wout."
Van Aert will skip Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday before riding Dwars door Vlaanderen in midweek as his final tune-up for the Tour of Flanders, the race he covets above all others. On Friday's evidence, Van der Poel is the firm favourite for the Ronde, though Visma will feel that their usual strength in depth was undone by ill fortune here. Despite this defeat, in other words, Van Aert still has ample reason to hope.
"If we have more numbers, then we can play a different game," Van Dongen said. "And maybe the outcome will be different."
