The Via Roma in San Remo played host to cycling`s superstars on Saturday afternoon, with the likes of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) all bested by the indomitable Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at Milan-San Remo. And within that star-studded elite group was also Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) - the 24-year-old three-time cyclo-cross world champion in only his third road race of the season. The Belgian finished sixth, taking another outstanding result after his third place at Strade Bianche two weeks ago. At 291km, Milan-San Remo was the longest race Van Aert had ever ridden, but he has already shown that he knows his way around these mammoth road races. Last year saw him debut at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, finishing in ninth and 13th place, respectively. He was on the podium at the late-season European Championships road race, too, held in Glasgow, Scotland, which was over 230km.ADVERTISEMENT The bigger distances are therefore not new territory for Van Aert, who was racing at WorldTour level for the first time this year at Milan-San Remo. But as he rolled out in front of Milan`s Sforza Castle on Saturday morning, surely not even the prodigy himself would`ve imagined that he`d be battling it out for the win seven hours later. `That`s a difficult question,` he said at the finish, asked whether, ahead of the race, he`d thought he could be in contention for the win. `It`s always in your mind, of course, but at your first attempt, you doubt yourself a bit. But I`m definitely happy that I made it into the final breakaway.` With 285km covered, and with just six kilometres left to the finish in San Remo, Van Aert was still up there, still fighting with the cream of the pro peloton at the top of the Poggio di San Remo. It was there, fighting into the headwind, and led by eventual winner Alaphilippe, that the winning group would be formed, and Van Aert felt right a ...
|
