GHENT (Belgium) – Imagine one evening an old Colnago with the Mapei colors. "Beautiful," we thought, "a classic. A pure '90s hit. Who knows whose it's from?" Well, it belonged to the mysterious guest of one of the super evenings spent at the velodrome. Kuipke, For the Be Giorni. When the speaker then gave the three options as to who this character was, seeing that bike there was no longer any doubt. The mysterious character was Johann Museeuw.
An unlikely yellow jumpsuit, a helmet on his head, and three laps of the track between two wings of an already delirious crowd. Museeuw had two great heirs, Tom Boonen, before and Wout Van Aert, Now. And having lived closely with Boonen and even more so with Van Aert, it's easy to understand why. lots of warmth for Johan too.
Warm emotions
The Belgian champion is always on the ball. By the way, we asked him questions in French and he answered us in Italian. "I've always loved Italy," Museeuw told us. A sign that his years at Mapei have left something behind... beyond the trophy cabinets, of course!
After 25 years, I've set foot on a track again. Which is very strange! How strange this uniform is... it makes me sweat so much. People come for the race (the Six Days of Ghent, ed.), to have fun and to discover the mysterious character.
«After so many years, this warmth from the public is pleasing. It's not true that a former rider doesn't feel anything in certain situations."
Today, the most applauded player in Belgium is Van Aert. We've already seen this in our many trips to this country.
«Well – says Museeuw – Wout is a great rider, but he is not the only one in terms of heat. Also Remco Evenepoel he is a very important and beloved athlete. At the moment in Belgium we have great riders for the future. Thank goodness you don't have them and we do! We're set for the next ten years here."
Van Aert, pink risk
We talked with Museeuw about the rider of the Jumbo Visma. In those days Van Aert had said he wanted to do it well. Tour of Italy. Not to mention that he had also announced his absence from the World Cross Country Championships, followed a few days later by his absence from Sanremo. In Belgium, the talk was of the town, at least in the sporting world.
«The idea of the Giro classification – explains a perplexed Museeuw – is a bit difficult for Van Aert for me. When you can win the Tour of Flanders or the Roubaix, aiming for the Giro d'Italia is very risky. In classics like that, he has a nine-in-ten chance of winning, while he has a five-in-ten chance of winning the Giro. I've never won the Sanremo, for example. I tried, and I finished second three times. But the Sanremo and the Giro are two different things. If I won the Flanders, I'm still aiming for the Flanders."
Museeuw's speech is clear: insist where you can win. We'd say it's also a bit of a mentality born of those years—years in which specialization was at its peak, but it's certainly not to be blamed from a purely technical standpoint.
Hautacam convict
The idea of sacrificing too much of the classics therefore does not convince the 1996 Lugano world champion.
«If you can win from Sanremo to Liège, via Flanders and Roubaix, and maybe all five Monuments, for me you don't have to change your features. But I'm old!
It is a more than common rumour that the the ranking worm entered Van Aert's head during the last Tour de France. Especially when towards Hautacam He even hindered Pogacar, especially after having pushed like a madman for miles and days. That day, Wout finished third at the Pyrenean finish line.
"It's true that he rode an exceptional Tour," Museeuw continues. "Van Aert contributed a lot to Vingegaard's success, but that doesn't mean he can win the Giro or the Tour. Rankings are another thing entirely. But it's also true that he has a great engine and we'll see in May what he can do. For me, however, this thing is “dangerous”».
Cycling and cappuccino
Museeuw was a champion of the classics, especially the cobblestone ones. Three Flanders, three Roubaix, one world championship. Out of 50 starts in the Monument Classics, only five dropped out. He is truly the classic "Flemish" and for this very reason he had and still has cycling inside him. So much so that He follows racing a lot. And he's also a cycling tour guide: he comes to Italy often.
«What do I like about this cycling today? That they're going strong from start to finish. They're truly phenomenal. It's a completely different way of racing than we do. The races are fun.
I like practically all the riders these days. The phenomenal ones, like Pogacar, Alaphilippe, and Van der Poel, are fine, but I also appreciate the young riders. The guys these days have great character. And I watch cycling on TV, with a cappuccino and a piece of cake... that makes it less of a chore than pedaling!
