Nathan van Hooydonck confident in Wout van Aert’s abilities to win this spring: “He’s hungry and really wants it”

When he was a professional, Nathan van Hooydonck was a vital member of Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s classics squad. Today, he still leads the team’s top riders in these races. He is certain that the Belgian is displaying the proper signals for the spring classics since he knows Wout van Aert better than anybody else in the peloton.

As he has done for Ben Tulett in the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, van Aert’s colleagues have all worked hard to increase his prospects of winning stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve. The team’s stance towards its leaders and younger riders is praised by the Belgian.

“He benefited from that as well because our team’s constant objective is to get better. That’s how we operate: if you’re not worthy of winning, Although he didn’t have a strong finish in the bunch sprints in the Algarve, he was also well behind his competitors and even colleague Olav Kooij. Perhaps a little sharpness is still lacking in him. He could have taken more chances and been a little more aggressive throughout the sprint. He didn’t, however, have a particularly committed lead-out man. Wout had to sort it out on his own, so to speak, after Tiesj did a fantastic job situating him a couple of times in the last kilometre.

“Those guys would have dominated the last kilometre if Christophe Laporte had been present, and he would have made sure Wout could begin his sprint in second or third place. Van Hooydonck contends that when you have a clear path, you don’t need to care about other people. However, the team is now hoping that the Frenchman can at least return to his peak condition for the classics after he was forced to entirely alter his early-season itinerary owing to sickness. Van Hooydonck, though, isn’t overly concerned with van Aert’s failure to win at this early stage of the season. Additionally, it’s critical to keep in mind that this is really a preparation race. These are not Wout’s main objectives. He wants to run fast and win, of course, but he understands that’s not the main goal. It begins on Saturday and is all about the huge rewards.

Van Aert will be a strong chance to win in the Opening Weekend in a few days, though, as his second place finish in the final time trial is a fantastic indication of form. He’s doing well, based on what I’ve heard from the team members who accompanied him to training camp. It’s an indication of confidence. There was a hint of disappointment on Wout’s face, but I kind of liked it. It indicates that he is truly hungry.

You assist another person. In the Wuyts & Vlaeminck podcast, Van Hooydonck stated that Wout was also committed to exerting that extra effort instead of simply giving up.