Cycling star Wout van Aert dramatically missed his first win of the season in the one-day race Across Flanders.
After a long solo escape in his Belgian homeland, the 31-year-old from the Visma-Lease a Bike team was only overtaken by the Italian Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) on the home straight. Four days before the prestigious Tour of Flanders in the northern Belgian region, van Aert was already in strong form, but like last year had to settle for second place.
For Ganna it was the first victory in the dress rehearsal for the “Ronde” and the first ever in a major one-day race. After 184.6 kilometers from Roeselare to Waregem, Sören Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) ended up in third place. The 80th edition of “Dwars door Vlaanderen” had previously taken the riders over seven cobblestone sections and twelve smaller climbs.
“In the end I felt good, the team supported me massively. Wout did a great job and catching him wasn’t easy,” said Ganna at the finish: “I’m very happy.”
Van Aert attacked with 37 km to go on the poisonous Eikenberg and caught up with the previous leading duo Romain Grégoire/Niklas Larsen. At Nokereberg, less than ten kilometers from the finish, he finally left Larsen behind, but the field was getting closer and closer. Ganna ultimately went after him alone and caught van Aert at the last moment. The Belgian had already bitterly missed out on victory at Across Flanders last year.
On Sunday the competition for van Aert and Ganna will be much greater. In addition to world champion Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel from the German team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe will also be at the start.
