There were times when it felt like Wout van Aert would never win another Monument, especially not Paris-Roubaix, the one-day race which suits him the most.
Even as he approached the Roubaix Velodrome on Sunday, at the end of his seventh 'Hell of the North', together with Tadej Pogačar, who he would surely beat in a sprint, the doubts were still there; it would be very Van Aert to be presented this golden opportunity, only to be denied.
