{"id":812087,"date":"2026-03-08T11:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/812087\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T11:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:05:18","slug":"realistic-wout-van-aert-after-top-10-finish-in-strade-bianche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/812087\/","title":{"rendered":"Realistic Wout van Aert after top-10 finish in Strade Bianche"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/wout-van-aert\" title=\"Wout van Aert\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wout van Aert<\/a> came away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/strade-bianche\" title=\"Strade Bianche\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Strade Bianche<\/a> with a solid ride and a realistic assessment of where he stands. The Belgian rode deep into the finale in Siena and eventually finished 10th, two places behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/visma-lease-a-bike\" title=\"Visma | Lease a Bike\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a> teammate Matteo Jorgenson. Afterwards, Van Aert spoke briefly to the media before making his way through the crowd on Piazza del Campo.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As honest as ever, Van Aert did not hide from the verdict. \u201cI rode the race that was in my legs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was incredibly hard. I\u2019m still missing something, but not very much, to be with that group behind Tadej Poga\u010dar. I\u2019m satisfied with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Van Aert was well positioned on the decisive sectors, but on the steep Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe he ultimately had to give way to his own limits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course I wanted more, but the selection on Monte Sante Marie was very honest. I still need to take one more step to be there with that group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wout-van-aert-69ac5fc70518d.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"wout-van-aert\"\/>Van Aert now heads to Tirreno\u2013AdriaticoThe Belgian said that \u201cwords fall short\u201d to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/cycling\/pogacar-and-super-domestique-del-toro-frustrate-flying-seixas-and-the-rest-at-strade-bianche\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">describe <\/a>the ride of winner Tadej Poga\u010dar. \u201cYou almost expect it, but he still proves it every single time. You can feel that everyone is racing for second place. He forces that, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jorgenson eventually finished eighth in Strade Bianche, while young Tim Rex impressed on his debut by still doing a turn on the front for Van Aert and company after making the early break. With intended leaders Louis Barr\u00e9 out through a cold and Ben Tulett sidelined by knee pain, Visma | Lease a Bike can still look back on the day with a fair degree of satisfaction. Both riders are still set to head to altitude camp ahead of the Ardennes block.<\/p>\n<p>Van Aert\u2019s next stop is Tirreno\u2013Adriatico, where he hopes to sharpen his form further. The seven-day stage race begins on Monday in Lido di Camaiore and should offer the Belgian several opportunities to chase a stage result. Mathieu van der Poel is also set to ride the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wout van Aert came away from Strade Bianche with a solid ride and a realistic assessment of where&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,184882,79,189602,16,15,11186,34351],"class_list":["post-812087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-idl-productions","tag-sports","tag-strade-bianche","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-visma-lease-a-bike","tag-wout-van-aert"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116193232569119081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}