‘It’s been my goal to win this race and point to the sky’ – Wout van Aert dedicates Paris-Roubaix victory to late teammate as past misfortune gave him ‘knowledge to pull it off’

The Belgian led the charge in the Arenberg Trench before being hamstrung by a puncture shortly after the Slovenian had suffered a similar fate on the 16th sector of pavé. Van Aert was able to rejoin the lead group and then launch a race-deciding attack that only Pogačar could follow. When the velodrome arrived, he used his sprint power to storm past the road world champion on the final track bank.

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“It was the moment when I decided to stick to his wheel on the cobblestones, in order to not get attacked from behind anymore,” Van Aert explained.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was able to answer Pogačar’s effort, and opted for a more defensive approach from there on in, but his belief in his own chances wasn’t dampened.

“When I was alone with Tadej, I knew I had a fair chance. It was still a long way, and a lot could happen, but I truly believed.

“After the Carrefour de l’Arbre, and we were still together, I had the same chances as him in a sprint after a race like this.”

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It was a race where, despite mechanicals to all the main favourites, fortune was arguably on Van Aert’s side, something that hasn’t always been so in northern France, and he acknowledged that it was something that helped him en route to writing his name into history in ‘Hell’.

“I’ve been pretty unlucky sometimes in this race, and it would be a nice story to say I was feeling so much better than any other edition, but the truth is that, also in other years, I felt really good, but circumstances were not on my side.

Those hardships and close calls clearly boosted his resolve this time around, and offered the Belgian “the knowledge [he] needed to pull it off.”

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Van Aert also acknowledged the efforts that his team had put in to get him across the track finish line first during his career, and the pressure that subsequently brought.

“It feels like a big relief. I know it’s been the dream of our CEO, Richard [Plugge], to win this race, and I was always the one who had to do it, basically in the last editions, so I feel incredibly proud to finish off the work of years,” Van Aert confessed.

The Belgian spoke of sacrifices to achieve victories such as today’s at Paris-Roubaix, describing the manner of victory, beating world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the velodrome, as a “dream come true” but also pointed, literally, to someone he’d lost at this race eight years ago.

Van Aert’s Vérandas Willems-Crelan teammate, Michael Goolaerts, tragically lost his life during the 2018 edition of the race.

Reflecting on his death and how it has shaped his emotions towards Paris-Roubaix since, Van Aert poignantly dedicated his victory to his late teammate.

“Ever since then, it was my goal to win this race and be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael.”

“There are a lot of times [when it’s] on my mind, especially every year in this period, and this year even more, because I think it is the first edition I’ve raced where we passed the sector where he died,” he added.

Van Aert described how even during his reconnaissance ride, he had goosebumps passing through that section of the course, before adding: “I like to believe that he gave me a bit of extra power today, and it’s a beautiful thing that I can dedicate this victory to his family.”