Outgunned by three superior rivals, Wout van Aert played a losing hand as best he could at the 2026 Tour of Flanders but after chasing hard for fourth, the Belgian Classics star recognised it was never really going to be possible to clinch a second Classics Monument podium this spring.
Third in Milan-San Remo had given Van Aert's long-suffering fans some room for hope that he could do better on home soil, particularly after some dramatic near-misses at In Flanders Fields and above all in Dwars door Vlaanderen last Wednesday.
