Belgium's concern at where the next Tom Boonen might come from began long before 'Tommeke' hung up his wheels after Paris-Roubaix in 2017 – although the search was probably always moot. In a country with this kind of cycling heritage, there will be home contenders at the Tour of Flanders for as long as there are cobbles and hills in the Flemish Ardennes.
Even so, rather like in Japan, eras in Belgian cycling tend to be defined by their emperors. The 1990s belonged to Johan Museeuw, who in turn ceded the crown to Boonen. Although Greg Van Avermaet has been Belgium’s most consistently successful cobbled Classics rider in recent seasons, this still has the feel of an interregnum rather than a definable epoch. He has, after all, yet to win the Tour of Flanders – the Ronde weighs rather more than Olympic gold in these parts – and he now risks being outshone by a new star: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
After claiming a third cyclo-cross world title last year, Van Aert's decision to test himself at the cobbled Classics was deemed more a curiosity than a guarantee of instant success. Sven Nys, after all, made no impression when he made a short-lived attempt at a similar transition in the early 2000s. A remarkable third place at a snow-swept Strade Bianche saw expectations immediately rocket skywards, however, and Van Aert dealt ably with the pressure on home roads in April, riding assuredly to ninth place on his Ronde debut.
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By the time he took bronze at the European Championships in August, Van Aert already had a foot out of the door at Crelan-Charles, although it took a protracted legal battle before he was finally able to extricate himself from his contract and step up to WorldTour level with Jumbo-Visma a year ahead of schedule in 2019.
Like last year, Van Aert's road season began late after he rode a full cyclo-cross calendar over the winter, culminating in a silver medal behind Mathieu van der Poel at the Worlds. Rather than feel his way into the campaign with some stage racing, Van Aert's road schedule has continued at the same staccato rhythm as his cyclo-cross one, with seemingly no ill effects.
The 24-year-old has raced just five times on the road in 2019, and only at WorldTour one-day events, yet he has strung together a most striking sequence of results. His 13th place at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was followed by another third at Strade Bianche. Rather more surprisingly, he was part of the winning move on the Poggio at Milan-San Remo, placing sixth on the Via Roma, earning praise from Boonen himself.
De Vlaeminck
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