Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) narrowly averted crashing on the house stretch in Benidorm, wobbling towards the obstacles as Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crossed the road for victory simply in entrance of him.
The near-miss modified nothing of the result of the race, and was maybe itself a product of Van Aert trailing his previous foe by means of the ultimate bend and into a really brief dwelling straight.
Given the structure, victory was nearly sure to go to the rider who bought to the tarmac first, and Van Aert, regardless of winding up behind Van der Poel, needed to content material himself with merely staying on his bike.
“After I noticed the photographs once more, it was much more harmful than I first thought,” Van Aert mentioned after the rostrum ceremony.
“I used to be nonetheless in Mathieu’s wheel, so I wished to dash to the road, however due to that light nook, I instantly got here very near the obstacles. Fortuitously, I used to be capable of maintain again simply in time.”
The ultimate stretch did not catch Van Aert without warning. Quite the opposite, he was conscious of the necessity to have the lead heading into the pair of planks that led to the ultimate bends and the house straight. Solely, he let it slip.
Van Aert accelerated on the lengthy tarmac drag mid-lap to take management from a entrance group of 4, however Van der Poel got here bursting by means of on a decent part by means of the timber.
“I remorse a bit my ways,” Van Aert admitted. “I needed to simply go all-in from the climb to the final park and attempt to maintain the lead. However I used to be simply extra centered to remain within the entrance as a substitute of setting a tough tempo.
“Like this, Mathieu stunned me just a little bit by passing me within the park, and I could not make it up anymore.”
Talking in Flemish, he added: “That is in all probability what I am most disillusioned about. I used to be just a bit too busy conserving the lead and never profitable the race.”
Van Aert hadn’t had the perfect of begins, pressured to take a seat behind a number of riders as Van der Poel took the outlet shot and set the tone on the opening lap. The Belgian was additionally sad along with his sand driving, largely having to dismount for the lengthy sandpit that Van der Poel rode by means of.
Van der Poel had been hindered by a again damage, however the pair seem well-matched a fortnight out from the World Championship, the place Van Aert shall be trying to degree the scores at 4 rainbow jerseys apiece.
“The legs have been good, however I ought to have made the race more durable,” Van Aert mentioned earlier than assessing his previous foe.
“He was actually the Van der Poel towards whom I fought duels throughout the Christmas interval. He appeared higher to me than in Zonhoven and Koksijde, for instance.”
