As we mainly know from football, La Dernière Heure gave points to every rider of the team of national coach Sven Vanthourenhout. Leader Van Aert received a 5/10.
“We cannot speak of a successful match for the Kempenaar”, according to the Walloon newspaper. “Even though he didn’t completely collapse physically and mentally. The Belgian leader should undoubtedly have warned his compatriots sooner that he was not feeling great, giving Stuyven and Evenepoel more freedom when Alaphilippe’s accelerations started. Attacks to which Van Aert himself was unable to respond.”
Evenepoel was the best Belgian of the World Cup, according to DH, with an 8/10. “De Brabander followed the instructions he received before and during the race to the letter. Probably even a bit too literal, because that meant he couldn’t contest the final. His attacks took the breath away of a lot of riders, but his good form could have been exploited otherwise.”
Stuyven got a nice 7.5/10. “In the end he turned out to have better legs than Van Aert, whom he replaced as leader in the final without difficulty. The man from Leuven deserved a place on the podium, but he had already wasted too much strength by then.”
The other points:
Tiesj Benoot – 6,5/10
Victor Campenaerts – 6.5 / 10
Tim Declercq – 7,5/10
Yves Lampaert – 7/10
Dylan Teuns – 6/10
Sven Vantourenhout – 6/10
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“Pointless work by Evenepoel”
At Le Soir they felt a bit sorry for Remco Evenepoel. “He was given the most thankless role,” it sounds. Namely: reacting to every move of the competition and then imposing a hellish pace. Evenepoel did all this and kept his promise to assist Wout van Aert. Only the Kempenaar turned out to have a lesser day than his younger companion, which meant that he was locked up in his role as a firefighter and arsonist.”
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The Walloon newspaper therefore wonders how Evenepoel would have fared in a protective role. “We will never know, but it would have been useful if the national coach had kept that in mind for when Van Aert indicated that he was having a bad day. Thomas Voeckler (the French national coach, ed.) was of the same level as Julian Alaphilippe. It would have been nice if that had been the case with the Belgians as well. Evenpoel’s strong work turned out to be pointless in the end.”
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“Belgians wanted to do too well”
Johan Museeuw told his story at La Libre. “I know it’s always very easy to talk after the race, but I think the Belgians took control of the race way too early,” said the 1996 world champion.
“In a world championship it is almost always the last hour that proves to be decisive and that was the case again. At 25km from the finish we were outnumbered when the Italians and French were still with three riders. It seemed as if our riders were riding with the idea that only Wout Van Aert could become world champion. We weren’t smart enough. You have to know how to bluff and not go for it too early. Belgian pressure quickly eliminated riders like Caleb Ewan, but in the end it was France that benefited. Maybe it was because of the crowd and the atmosphere that the Belgians almost wanted to do too well.”
And what about Van Aert’s bad day? Even if the Belgians had driven the perfect race, I’m still not sure if Van Aert had the weapons to win. He didn’t give the same fluid impression as usual, which was seen several times during the match. Did he peak too early or was he just having a bad day? We will undoubtedly get the answer next Sunday during Paris-Roubaix.”
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