Everyone's looking at him. It seems strange, considering that Tadej will also be competing in Tokyo on Saturday. pogacar, that is, the last yellow jersey, the one who wins everything, and yet most of the insiders (and not) indicates in Wout Van Aert the big favorite in the challenge for the Olympic road gold and perhaps it could not be otherwise by putting together what the Belgian champion did at the Tour, winning on the climb (the stage of Mont Ventoux), The stopwatch and in sprint (these last two in sequence and at the end of the Grande Boucle).
While Van Aert was performing his miracles, Sven Vanthourenhout, the Belgian rider promoted to the road after the many successes achieved in the same role in cyclocross, was already in Tokyo with Remco evenepoel and Mauri Vansevenant, arrived well in advance and carefully examined the route, studied down to the smallest detail. Returning to my room in the Belgian Olympic Village with many doubts, not even fully hidden.
Van Aert and the weight problem
«It's an exhausting journey – he declared to reporters Standaard.be – with nonstop climbs and descents. It's not just the ascent to Mikuni Pass that worries me, because before that, there's Mount Fuji, which will wear down many a rider's legs. It is a route for light people on passages with gradients of 15% and above.». Considering that they will reach peaks of 22 percent and that Van Aert is not exactly a featherweight, Vanthourenhout's fears are justified.
It's also true, however, that Belgium has built a team capable of changing the face of the game in many ways. Sure, Van Aert is the striker, but he has the experience of Greg Van Avermaet who is still the defending champion, there are two riders like Vansevenant and Tiesj Benoot who help but also know how to win. And then there's a certain Remco Evenepoel...
Belgium already up to speed with the climate
The little talent of the Deceuninck Quick StepAccording to those who were with him in the last few days, he's beaming, with a state of mind he hasn't had in a long time. Unlike many others, not only his compatriots but also other teams who chose to move at short notice (a category our national team belongs to), Evenepoel has been in Tokyo for a long time so it will be among the most acclimatizedi, both in terms of time zone and accustomed to the particular weather conditions. Who knows, perhaps Vanthourenhout will decide to switch roles just hours before the start…
"Recovery doesn't worry me much," the coach was keen to point out. "After all, those who were here before recovered after a couple of days, so I'm confident everyone will be at their best on Saturday. I say that it is a race that lends itself to many interpretations., where even a second-place rider can win, so everyone must be ready to play the leading role. Van Aert? We'll have to see how he handles the gradients of the Mikuni Pass.
Is Van Aert playing pre-tactics?
And he, the winner of the Champs Elysees? Arriving in Tokyo after boarding the same evening as his arrival in Paris, he candidly declared to the notepads present at the airport: «There's not much left in his legs at the moment, but there's time to recover.Meanwhile, Vanthourenhout (who knows him well, having been the mentor of his world championship triumphs on the grass) immediately led the Belgian boys on a first 70km ride at an average pace of 30km. The hunt for gold has just begun…
