‘Attack is the best defence’ for Wout van Aert and new teammate Tiesj Benoot
‘Attack is the best defence’ for Wout van Aert and new teammate Tiesj Benoot
Wout van Aert soloed to his first victory of the season, in his first race of the season, at a wearing but sunny edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. As the first race of ‘Opening Weekend’, it was also a first outing for Jumbo-Visma’s strengthened Classics squad – all but two were making their 2022 debut – and one perplexing moment notwithstanding, it was a dominant performance from the start.
The 204 km route from Ghent to Ninove was a race of two halves, the vast majority of the 13 climbs and nine cobbled sectors amassed beyond the halfway point.
With a seven-man breakaway up the road and the peloton easing themselves into Flandrian racing, Jumbo-Visma were hard to miss in the bunch. The yellow and black jerseys commanded respect throughout the race, always first into key climbs and corners, upping the pace and positioning their leader as close to the pointy end as possible.
Just outside 50 km to go, with the original breakaway splintering, Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) managed to escape the peloton, and were soon joined in their hunt for the front by Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ). With six riders now in front, it was up to the TT specialist Edoardo Affini to lead the peloton and he set a blistering pace, foiling any further attempts to get away.
That is until the Berendries climb, when fellow Jumbo-Visma rider Tiesj Benoot made his first move for his new team with a stinging attack, bringing Van Aert along for an armchair ride, and drawing out Jhonatan Narváez, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious).
This group soon joined the front of the race and though the 11-strong group found over 30 seconds with 25 km to go, their cohesion fell away as Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Trek-Segafredo led the large peloton behind.
This is where the confusing move occurred, one that no one can quite work out. With 20 km to go, Benoot accelerated off the front and went solo, leaving Van Aert embedded in an unmotivated chase group that dangled within reach of the peloton.
Needless to say, the group was left looking around at one another, and in no time they were swallowed up. And Van Aert was once again surrounded by his fellow favourites.
As it happened, the Belgian national champion kept cool and simply flicked to a different page of the playbook. With Benoot leading the race up the Muur van Geraardsbergen, others were forced to pull in the peloton. Ultimately, with all the slipping and sliding that happens on that most infamous of cobbled climbs, Van Aert was the second rider to pass the church after his teammate.
The Kapelmuur served to dramatically reduce the players at the front, and with Benoot gathered up, Van Aert waited for his moment. When he attacked at the foot of the Bosberg, his rivals hesitated a fraction of a second too long. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) tried desperately to follow, but Van Aert was gone.
“Having good legs, having good focus, always being in the front without too much energy, that’s where you feel it’s good today,” Van Aert said after the finish. “The team was always with me in control, and from the real final, from the Berendries, we were with a small group in front where I find Tiesj who also rode really impressively and he gave me the support I needed in the final.
“If you end up in a position where you’re the fastest in the group then it’s a really tough situation to handle because everyone’s looking at you, so sometimes attack is the best defence and this is the way I was thinking. It worked out well.”
It’s both a great start for Van Aert and a good sign for the team’s high expectations this spring. In an interview with Belgian press last weekend, Van Aert explained how the team has taken steps to improve his support with the addition of Tiesj Benoot (from DSM), Tosh van der Sande (from Lotto Soudal) and Christophe Laporte (from Cofidis), who starts his season at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday.
“In principle, a lot is going to change for me,” Van Aert told Het Nieuwsblad. “It should absolutely no longer be the intention that I end up alone in the early final or have to find the right moment on my own. With the quality we have now, that will no longer be the case.”
Sure, he was alone at the finish, and by design, but the Jumbo-Visma jerseys stuck together from the very beginning – easier said than done, especially when a team is trying something out with new bodies – and Van Aert had at least one teammate until he went solo with 13 km to go.
Van Aert started the day playing down his chances of taking the win with his targets further down the road, and he ended it in time trial mode on his way to victory. With a clearly strong team behind him, it could be a very good spring.
