‘Always nice when your heroes say hello’ – Bradley Wiggins in awe of cycling superstar Wout van Aert
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Published 30/03/2022 at 13:51 GMT
Bradley Wiggins admits just being acknowledged by Wout van Aert leaves him feeling warm inside. The 2012 Tour de France champion, who was speaking at Discovery’s 'year of cycling' launch, said the Belgian was his “hero at the moment”. Van Aert is bidding to win his second Monument at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, with Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar also vying for the crown.
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Discovery Cycling expert Bradley Wiggins has hailed Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) as a “modern day hero” after seeing the Belgian rewrite what is possible on a bike.
Van Aert joined an illustrious group to win a mountain stage, time trial and bunch sprint at a single Tour de France last year. Only Bernard Hinault (1978) and Eddy Merckx (1974) have also managed the feat.
He also remains one of the most feared one-day racers and already boasts a bulging haul of classics wins, while he is also a three-time cyclo-cross world champion. He has already won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Saxo Bank Classic this season.
Speaking at Discovery's year of cycling launch, Wiggins said: “Wout van Aert without doubt is my favourite rider at the moment.
“He continues to impress me week in week out, so do Mathieu and Pogacar, but Wout van Aert, he's a complete gentleman off the bike as well.
“And that's not to say the others aren’t either by the way. It's just certain things separate you when you're looking at heroes of the sport.
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“I've been blessed with having so many heroes that I look up to in the sport and continue to, and Wout van Aert for me is a modern day hero of mine.
“Whether I was 15 or 42, we all have heroes when we watch sport and that's the beauty of sports. Wout van Aert is my hero at the moment. He really is.
“The fact he knows who I am, I find very hard to believe every day when I'm at the races and he says hello to me. It reminds me of being a kid still and the heroes have gone by.
“[Davide] Ballerini, Michel Rousseau – when I turned professional they knew who I was which was really nice and it's always nice when your heroes know who you are or acknowledge you or say hello.”
For all his triumphs, Van Aert boasts just a single Monument: the 2020 Milan-San Remo.
The Belgian will start as favourite for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday in a stellar field also containing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Fenix) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). Van Aert finished second in 2020 and has made the top 10 in the past three editions.
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