The Jumbo-Visma exhibition at Ghent-Wevelgem, in which the Belgian Wout Van Aert gave victory to his Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laportehas generated some debate about this outcome in the race since, while many have applauded the Belgian’s gesture with Laporte, others have criticized that Van Aert decided not to challenge his teammate for the finish.
One of these critics has been Eddy Merckx. In statements collected by the Belgian media Sporza, ‘El Caníbal’ believes that Van Aert was better and that he would not have let his partner win in his place. “Was I surprised? Yes and no. I bet 1,000 euros with my son that Laporte would win. It’s Van Aert’s choice to let a teammate win or not, but I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t know what happened inside the team. Also Wout Van Aert was the best by far, we saw him on the Kemmelberg, and he could have made history by winning Harelbeke, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders in the same year”.
Merckx’s opinion was also added Tom Bonen, that in statements to Sporza he questioned that Van Aert gave up the victory in such a prestigious race and believes that the Belgian can regret this. “I have helped my teammates win, but never in a case like this. I don’t know if he would have. We are talking about Ghent-Wevelgem, a great race to add to your record, it is not a stage from Paris-Nice. If I put myself in Laporte’s shoes, would I want to win like this? I would have fought for her. I think Wout Van Aert is going to regret it. Riders come and go, and Laporte will be a key figure for Van Aert in Flanders and Roubaix, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Imagine that Van Aert has a hard fall on Sunday at kilometer 5, he will regret this very much.
