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Wout van Aert crashes and still wins

The Belgian is something special

December 6, 2021
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Wout van Aert made a triumphant comeback to ‘cross on Saturday in Boom, Belgium, dominating the Superprestige from start to finish.

On Thursday, it was unclear if he’d make it to the start line after he said he had a cold. It seems that he got better as he destroyed his opponents in one of his specialties,  thick and slippery mud.

Nobody could hang with the Jumbo-Visma rider in the muck. Van Aert started to take control on Lap 2, as he was the only rider able to ride a short run-up. The crowd started to get loud. The Belgian champion had Aerts as company and Iserbyt and Hermans in close pursuit.

Van Aert’s lead heading in to the penultimate lap was nearly two minutes. The podium scrap was still between the seven. It’s a good thing van Aert had such a buffer because he crashed on a muddy downhill and then had to run his bike to the pits for a change.

Somehow, van Aert held his two minute gap as the bell lap began. Michael Vanthourenhout dashed away from the pursuing pack in a bid for second place but Toon Aerts yanked him back and went for the runner-up spot. He would claim it, with Lars van der Haar rounding out the podium. Pidcock finished seventh.

As you can see in below, it’s clear that even the greatest can make mistakes.

It was van Aert’s first Superprestige triumph since 2017.