>He's struggling. He's falling behind. He's nowhere near the form he's used to. The great all-rounder Wout van Aert was supposed to be one of the Giro's biggest stars. He still could be. But the question that's currently worrying experts the most is: What has caused the 30-year-old Belgian cyclist to fall so far short of expectations?
>The answers vary. >The lingering effects of a previous illness. >Excessive perfectionism leading to overtraining. >Loss of self-confidence after previous results in the season. <Family life and trying to devote more time to his children. >Or of course a combination of some of these factors.
>In the opening stage of the Giro in Albania, it still seemed that the effects of a previous illness would not limit Wout van Aert as much as many feared. He struggled in the classic terrain and was unable to keep up with Lidl-Trek just before the top of the final climb, but on the subsequent descent he pulled back to the front and won second place in the sprint behind the winner Mads Pedersen.
>“This was far beyond my expectations,” he said afterwards. “I didn’t feel well during the day, but I wanted to try to attack the pink jersey. I value second place too.”
>But the next stages only caused embarrassment.
>In the short, flat time trial to Tirana, he would normally have attacked hard in the maglia rosa, after all, he had dominated this discipline in the past at the Tour. This time he finished thirty-fourth, 39 seconds behind winner Josh Tarling.
05/14/2025 (Wed) 08:32
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