Wout van Aert was feeling good but felt frustrated after a late puncture at Le Samyn…he also suggested it was anything but random. The Visma–Lease a Bike rider felt strong throughout the day, only for his hopes to be undone about ten kilometres from the finish when he hit a patch of glass and blew a tire, according to VTM, as reported by Wielerflits.
The Belgian sure has had his share of bad luck these past years–but van Aert wonders if this had nothing to do with chance.
From the front to the back
After the puncture, Van Aert first took a teammate’s bike before finally grabbing a spare from the team car, but by then the damage was done and a significant gap had opened to the main group. “When he got the flat in the finale, we were already one and a half minutes behind,” Visma’s Grischa Niermann told VTM. Van Aert later described the moment he realized something was off.
“Suddenly there were a lot of shards of glass,” he said, noting that the course was familiar and had been ridden multiple times before. “It can’t have just appeared there by accident,” he added, hinting that the incident felt a smidge unusual.
Not a great start to 2026
His Opening Weekend didn’t go according to plan, either. The mutli-disciplined star fell ill just before Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and had to skip that and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. It was set to be a bit of a comeback race for him after a nasty fall during the ‘cross season resulted in a fractured ankle. He was going pretty good too, set for a proper duel with world champ Mathieu van der Poel. Thankfully–although he had to skip the rest of his shortened ‘cross season, his recovery was quick after surgery and he got back on the bike pretty quickly.
Next up for van Aert is Strade Bianche. He’s won there before, and also took the “Strade Bianche” stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2025. Maybe Saturday could be a big day? He’ll face some stiff competition with world road champ Tadej Pogačar and his UAE teammate Isaac del Toro. There’s also Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling’sTom Pidcock. And don’t forget the absolute prodige Paul Seixas from Decathlon CMA CGM. Who knows what the talented young pro can do next….
