'Completely empty, we weren't strong enough' – No regrets for Van Aert and Jorgenson as they miss podium and fade behind superior Pogačar at Tour of Flanders

Just four days ago, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) sat by a barrier at Dwars door Vlaanderen being consoled by his wife Sarah, full of regret and disappointment after cramping up and losing a three-against-one sprint to Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). He got his tactics all wrong and ultimately lost his team the bike race. 

At today's Tour of Flanders, however, he seemed to return to his former self when he snapped onto eventual winner Tadej Pogačar's (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) wheel as he made the first of many brutal attacks up the Oude Kwaremont with 56km to go. Despite all the subsequent criticism from Dwars and outside noise, Van Aert had looked past his recent failure, and for a while looked as though he might again challenge for the Flanders victory.

"I was pretty sure he would go all in from the second time up Kwaremont already and it was good that I was in a great position because of my teammates so I could follow him there," said Van Aert as he recalled the race in the mixed zone. 

"From there, it was a big fight to try and stay with him or get back after the climbs, because they were really flying on the climbs. But from a personal point of view, I'm really happy."

The victory was not to be, and neither was the podium, in fact, as his resolve was firmly broken on the Taaienberg and Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) showed themselves to be the strongest on the day.

When the world champion finally moved away on the final Kwaremont ascent, Van Aert had made a last-ditch move off the front before he found himself in the fight for third, unable to respond to Pogačar. Once the chasing group reached the final straight, Pedersen and Van der Poel had enough to outlast Van Aert to the line, denying the Belgian a first podium at Flanders since he lost to the Dutchman by a matter of centimetres in 2020. It was defeat again, but this time with satisfaction.

"I'm happy with today's race," said Van Aert as he came into the mixed zone. "It's been a really tough race of course and it was just really cool to battle for the podium. 

"I was just stuck there and I have no regrets, I really tried it and Tadej [Pogačar] was just stronger, and the other two in front of me in the sprint were also stronger too.

"A fourth place after these three riders is no disgrace, it was my place today too. I am especially happy that the hard work paid off and that I never lost courage."

Visma-Lease a Bike had three riders in play in the final, with Matteo Jorgenson also following Pogačar well initially, and Tiesj Benoot already being up the road after getting into an earlier break. Unlike at Dwars where Van Aert uncharacteristically got selfish, the men in yellow and black were again putting in a team performance to try and unseat the two main favourites.

"We knew the group with Pogačar was coming, but actually it took quite a while for me, I think we had 45 seconds at the bottom of the second time up Kwaremont, and it took them after Koppenberg to close it, so the further it got, the better it looked for us," Benoot told Cyclingnews after the finish. 

But the Slovenian never stopped applying the pressure and eventually swept up Benoot, the break and left everyone in his dust as he rode away to a historic second Flanders title. Again, however, Visma could only be satisfied having lost out only because of legs, not tactics.

"We did everything we could as a team, just one or two riders were stronger," said Benoot frankly.

For Jorgenson, who entered the day as co-leader with Van Aert, the 269km distance and non-stop attacking led by Pogačar just went a couple of steps too far. He echoed his teammates' sentiment and wasn't filled with regret, but found himself filled with nothing after completely dropping away from a chase group to finish 47th.

"Empty, very empty," Jorgenson told reporters including Cyclingnews at the finish. "We were all just on the limit and I think the strongest rider won today.

"I'm just feeling empty," he repeated, "I completely came apart in the last 10k, just completely empty in the legs. 

A feeding issue? No, "It's a Monument issue," he said, "I just ran out of gas, I did too many efforts trying to follow the big boys. But I'm happy with how the team rode and I think we did a good race."

But he at no point felt that Visma hadn't maximised their chances of getting a result in Oudenaarde, with only the superior Pogačar, Van der Poel and Pedersen beating their best rider Van Aert to the podium.

"We did the best we could. I was just going as hard as I could and trying to follow while being my best," said Jorgenson.  

"It wasn't easy I'll tell you that much, but I honestly think we did our best and used our team in the wisest way possible.

"To win the race for sure we weren't strong enough but like I said I think we raced well and the strongest riders won today, that's just the facts." 

If Visma-Lease a Bike hadn't put in a performance like this, their cobbled Classics would have been characterized only as a disaster given the strength of their squad. However, with Van Aert now looking unfazed by the critics and his legs almost at the level of Van der Poel, Pogačar and Pedersen, they can head to Paris-Roubaix with an eye on conquering the hellish pavés.

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