Wout van Aert 'mixed feelings' as he scores 13th silver at a major championships
'We underestimated how mu𒉰ch he had left' Belgian says of European Championships winner Laporte

Another major championship and another silver for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Wout Van Aert. Sunday's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UEC Road European Championships brought the 💫Belgian's 13th silver as he finished second behind trade teammate Christophe Laporte atop the Col de VAM.
Van Aert now has silvers at the Olympic ꦓGames (one), Cyclocross Worlds (four), Road Worlds (four), European Cyclocross Championships (two), and Belgian Nationals (one) – in addition to a host of golds, of course.
He finished the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:best from a chase group that almost made it back to Laporte at the finish line after the Frenchman had attacked 12km out. He and teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Arnaud De Lie led the chase behind but fell just short of catching an♑d passing the eventual winn🦹er.
"I agreed with De Lie that we would draw my card," Van Aert told after the rac😼e. "I think he felt that I was the better of the two. Tha♛t was a good decision.
"But Arnaud chased so hard – which was necessary to close the gap – that I couldn't get out of Laporte's wheel. We underestimatꦚed how much he had left at the end."
Van Aert discus﷽sed the tactics of the final, saying that his Belgian team "didn't really do anything wrong" while also acknowledging that he 𝄹or De Lie should've been on the attack rather than Laporte.
"De Lie or I should be leading, not Laporte," he said. "After that, we didn'🐽t really do anything wrong. He rode smartly to🌱 have something in reserve."
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to yo🔥ur inbox!
De Lie, meanwhile, rode to fourth place behind bronze medallist Olav Kooij of the Netherlands. The race marked his pro debut at a World o🅷r European Championships, and the 21-year-old impressed and maybe could've been the chosen man 🃏for Belgium rather than Van Aert.
"It was super tough at the end," De Lie told Het Nieuwsblad. "I talked to Wout 5km from the finish. I said, 'It’s for𝓀 you'. It was a good opportunity to give him a nice title, but ෴unfortunately, he finished second behind a super-strong Laporte.
"Looking back, I might still have had the legs to win, but you can never be sure. Maybe we started the sprint a little too early, but that's ho🌄♏w it goes in a race."
Regardless of the what-ifs, Van Aert came away with a familiar placing – this was his e꧃ighth second place of the season and 20th of the past two years. Later, Van Aert reflected on the "mixed feelings" after another runner-up spot.
"I didn't think about it during the race, but it's an observation I can't deny," he said of his s🌱ilver medal record. "Of course, that's on my mind. I try to win every race, and that's how I rode today.
"It leaves mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's nice that 🍒I'm always💛 there, but this year I'm not quite there. I'm confident things will be different in the future."

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.🉐 She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.