Tadej Pogacar has already arrived in Belgium and has been staying at the Parkhotel in Waregem, just a few hundred meters from the finish line of Dwars door Vlaanderen. From his room, the world champion could have watched the race, but he chose to do something else, although what happened to Van Aert naturally caught his attention.

"Obviously, I heard what happened to Van Aert: Visma-Lease a Bike made a small mistake. They had a lot of confidence and were convinced of what they were doing, but there's nothing wrong with that. Wout looked in good form during the race and I think he will be in excellent shape on Sunday. The Tour of Flanders is his big goal and Wout always finds extra motivation and energy in the big races".

On Wednesday after Dwars door Vlaanderen, van Aert was devastated and felt guilty about not winning. The Flemish rider explained that, after receiving many criticisms, he reacted that way during the race by seeking a victory that might have gone to one of his teammates.

Dutch champion Demi Vollering had already encouraged Van Aert yesterday, explaining the pressures riders like him are subjected to. Tadej Pogacar also referenced the post published by Vollering, sharing her thoughts. "Every rider feels the pressure. Especially someone like Wout who doesn't race many times during the year, but always aims for the most important races. The team always counts on Wout. He must race and win, and if you finish second, especially when you were three from the same team against one in the finale, then what happened really sucks. But I'm convinced that Wout will overcome this quickly. He won't think about it anymore on Sunday, and it's not the end of the world if the race doesn't go well".

Tadej Pogacar is also not immune to the criticisms he receives, as we've seen several times when everyone expected a victory that didn't come, like at Milan-Sanremo or the 2022 Tour of Flanders, when the success went to Mathieu van der Poel. "Social media is the cancer of our society. You can read a lot of positive things, but the negative things are the ones that stick with you. No blame to journalists, but it's not worth reading social media and following news there. I think the best thing is not to read to avoid being influenced".