Running with thousands or tens of thousands of fans is lonely. After climbing to the top of the Kruisberg, Wout Van Aert still had 26 kilometers of racing left, but he must have felt that the Tour de Flanders was already lost.

The roar of the home crowd could only inspire a man at a time like this. Tadei Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) could not make up the difference.

Van Aert was the local favorite in Ronde, destined to be dropped by one of the big three, but he was the first to blink in the finale. When the Dutchman and eventual winner Pogachar disappeared, Van Aat was forced into a lonely but eye-catching chase.

At one point he was within 10 seconds, but the strength of the riders in front of him began to push him back. Van der Pol and Pogachar caught up with the lead breakaway, and Van Art's Jumbo-Visma teammate, Nathan Van Hooydonk, dropped back to help in the chase. At that point, however, there was nothing that could be done. The greatest prize was already out of reach.

Van Aert eventually reached the remnants of the early break over Kwaremont, but by the time he got there, Pogachar and Van der Pol had already left. He arrived in Oudenaarde in fourth place, 1 hour and 12 minutes, losing the final step of the podium to Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) in the sprint.

As he crossed the finish line, Van Aert went straight through the mixed zone with his head down. He did not respond to multiple camera crews attempting to flag him down, but then he did not even stop to accept a drink from Soinier at the finish line. He just needed to be alone during his first period of mourning.

About half an hour later, Van Art emerged from the Jumbo-Visma bus. The Belgian, who had won last week's E3 Saxo Classic with Van der Pol and Pogachar, was having a hard time keeping up with them in Kwaremont.

"I was a little surprised by Mathieu Van Der Pol's bomb," Van Aert said. 'Perhaps my mind was still occupied with what lay ahead. But the legs spoke. If I hadn't been able to keep up with that, I wouldn't have been able to keep up with Ude Kwaremont."

The fastest Tour of Flanders in history was breathless from start to finish, with each of the big three suffering setbacks in the first 100km or so. Van der Pol was caught in an early split, while Pogachar was involved in an early crash. Meanwhile, van Aal was caught in a group crash before the first climb of the Quaremont with about 100 miles to go, but he quickly returned to the race.

"It didn't bother me during the race. I scraped my knee, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow," Van Aert said. The race was very long and tough."

Jumbo Visma has dominated the cobbled classics so far, winning in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuhne Brussel Kuhne, Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Harelbeke, and Dwar de Hlaanderen, but Patrick Lefebvre "those yellows," as he calls them, failed to show their power on Sunday.

Van Hooydonk clamped down on Dangerman's move that went clear in Molenberg with 100km to go, but Tige Benoot and Christophe Laporte failed to make the impact they had hoped for.

"For our team, the race went well for a long time. Nathan Van Hooydonk was in a dangerous group. 'But we were up against the field sooner than we thought we would be. Pogachar and van der Pol proved to be strong."

"We were able to get a good start.

After winning last week's E3 Harelbæk, Van Aert shouted to the camera, "I have nothing to prove. In this era of dexterous talent, few are as versatile as Van Aert, who splits his time between road and cyclo-cross, between group sprint victories and riding as a mountain domestique.

But aside from his victory in Milan-San Remo in 2020, Van Aert's heyday was no monument; in five appearances, he has only been on the podium once, in 2020.

Van Aert has a chance to change the narrative next week in Paris-Roubaix, but on Sunday evening he had only thoughts of the Ronde. 'I'm here to win,' he said. ." he said.