Victor Campenaerts sees a different Wout van Aert: "Faster than last year"

With a third place in Milan-San Remo, Wout van Aert gained a lot of confidence ahead of the upcoming cobbled classics. His goal remains the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and according to his teammate Victor Campenaerts, we will see a Wout van Aert there that we haven’t witnessed in competition for a long time. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider told NOS this.

"Milan-San Remo was the first race of the season I raced alongside Wout," Campenaerts explains. "It was actually a coincidence. At Wout’s request, I flew in Friday afternoon to replace the ill Matthew Brennan."

Campenaerts saw Van Aert crash before the Cipressa climb but was able to support his team leader and bring him back into the race afterwards. Van Aert only rejoined the peloton after Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tom Pidcock had already launched attacks, but he proved faster than the rest of the field in the finale thanks to a late move.

Of course, Campenaerts liked seeing that. "When I saw him riding around, it was a different Wout than the one I saw racing last year. Then, he won fantastic stages in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, but there was a difference compared to the rider I saw now at Milan-San Remo. He looked much sharper, showed a lot more form. Whereas last year it sometimes looked more like hard work."

Campenaerts himself is not racing the cobbled classics, but he has great confidence in his leader for those races. "I’m looking forward to watching him from the couch," he finishes with a promising smile.