There was a sense of foreboding and a degree of déjà vu as Wout van Aert went solo into the finale of Dwars door Vlaanderen. In theory, a rider of his stature should be pegged to win from that situation, especially given the lack of any huge rivals behind. But for many watching, the optimism wasn't quite there.
That's because Van Aert has been burned before in these situations, as recently as a couple of days ago. At In Flanders Fields, Van Aert was away with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in what looked like a race-winning move, but a defensive ride from Van der Poel saw them brought back.
And of course who could forget this day last year, when Van Aert somehow lost a Visma three-against-one battle in the finale, the Dutch team somehow messing it up so badly that Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), severely outnumbered, beat them all in Waregem.
He also had a really terrible day here in 2024, crashing horrendously at the foot of the Kanarieberg and ruined the rest of his spring. So everyone was taking Wednesday's ride with a bit of a pinch of salt, even as he entered the final 3km alone, and in the end, the foreboding was warranted.
In an unfortunate replica of last year, Van Aert's head dropped as he crossed the line, just caught by winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) at the very last moment. Another day, another big effort, another loss.
Van Aert was expectedly disappointed at the finish, saying he had "tried everything I had", but practically before he even had a chance to step onto the podium, talk had turned to what this means for the week's biggest goal, the Tour of Flanders.
Two big attacks, to go with Van der Poel on Sunday and on his own on Wednesday, are surely good signs about his form, but there is also the obvious issue that he's not been able to win yet this season.
Are those rides still positive despite the end result? Yes and no, Visma Directeur Sportiff Grischa Niermann told Cyclingnews at the finish of Dwars door Vlaanderen.
"The result is more important because we want to win races," he said. "But I think in the end we have to be very satisfied with the shape that Wout is in and that Per [Strand Hagenes] and Christophe [Laporte] are in. That's it for the moment.
"We always want to win bike races and of course we are also looking at the process, we need to be in good shape. But in the end it's about winning, and it's a big pity that we lost out today."
As to the reasons why Van Aert missed the win on Wednesday, Niermann didn't point to any one big issue, with the Belgian himself just running out of gas a few hundred metres too early.
"It's always the little things that maybe you could have done differently, but I think everybody fought, we had a good team," Nierman said. "Especially Per and Christophe were really strong, they tried to block it also in the back. In the end it's a pity that Wout gets caught on the line, that's cycling."
In fact, Niermann said that Van Aert did "exactly what he wanted to do" and that there wasn't an obvious better way to play it.
"Wout did exactly what he wanted to do, he wanted to go on Eikenberg and he went across to the attackers and that was perfect," he said.
"With hindsight, it would have been better if he was with someone else because then for sure they would have made it to the finish, but in the end Wout also had to drop [Niklas] Larsen and [Romain] Grégoire because they were not strong enough maybe. Then also in the end if you're with two, there are always some games that are beginning to be played, so I think going solo was the best option."
Of course, all of these races are, to an extent, precursors to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, which Van Aert has long held as his goals of the season. Winning mid-week would be good, but winning one of those Monuments would be better.
Though he will go into Sunday now with two disappointing defeats – and one very buoying ride at Milan-San Remo – in his pocket, Niermann was clear that these losses don't present a problem or headache for Flanders, which will be on another level.
"I don't think so," he said when asked if the team needed to change or fix anything ahead of Flanders. "Sunday will be a totally different race. If it was already hard today, it will be much harder. The two big favourites will be there, everybody will look to them, and for Wout it's good to know that he is in a good place and he's in good shape."
Niermann spoke about two big favourites, Van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar, but there will be another big name in the mix: Remco Evenepoel. Rather than another threat, Visma are seeing the Belgian's participation as another useful ally in the battle to topple Van der Poel and Pogačar.
"For us it's good if more strong riders are there, because in the end everybody knows that Tadej will be the strongest, everybody knows where he can drop everyone, then you have to try to follow and if you can't follow then you're happy when you have some other strong riders with you, so I absolutely see it as an advantage."
Ultimately, no matter how Van Aert performed this week – even if he had won both Sunday and Wednesday's races – he would still go into Flanders as at most the third-best rider, such is Van der Poel and Pogačar's Monument dominance. It's hard to imagine anything he could have done to change that.
Being beaten twice is plainly not good, but Niermann's words are more than just team PR speak, there's a truth to it. Van Aert has been strong, so have his teammates, and he'll go into Flanders uninjured and fully aware of what is needed from him.
Whether that is enough to fight for the win on Sunday remains to be seen, but the Belgian has at the very least shown that he refuses to be counted out.
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