Wout Van Aert and Remco Evenepoel will meet later this month to discuss how to clean up the Belgian's fiasco at last year's World Championships and move on. The question of whether or not Evenepoel would work for Van Aert had haunted them right up to the World Championships on their home turf. After the final Sunday road race and Van Aat's struggles in the race finale, it soon became clear that the two were not on the same page. Evenepoel, who joined the breakaway group early in the race, professed that he had the legs to become world champion, while VanArt countered that his early moves were against the team order. Soon it was revealed that Evenpoel had failed to show up for the post-race team debriefing, and the furor made headlines around the world. To calm things down, national coach Sven Vanthourenhout called for a meeting to reconcile the two, but that has yet to happen, as the two Belgian riders are expected to share the national team leadership for the next few years and at this year's World Championships in Australia. Since they may share the leadership, a briefing is considered essential.

Vanthourenhout told Cycling News this weekend that the agenda is still open, but it will have to wait until after the spring classics. 'We were supposed to meet in early January during a training camp in southeastern Spain,' he said. 'Normally we would have met there, but Jumbo Visma canceled the camp in two days for COVID-19. I was there and also went to the Quick Step camp to meet Remco. But it was impossible for the three of us to sit together." VanArt is in full swing with his spring Classic campaign and is training at high altitude on Mt. Teide, so the meeting will have to wait until after the Ardennes Classic. Van Aert will race from Paris to Roubaix on April 17, while Evenpoel will race the Classics from the Ardennes to Liège to Bastogne to Liège on April 24. Any face-off is likely to be after that.

"It is still impossible for the three of us to be together, so we plan after the Classic. Lemko is in Teide right now. Wout is at the Classic. Lemko is in Teide right now and Wout is at the Classic. There was no indication of any ongoing problems between the two Belgian riders. Everything is fine," he said. There are no more problems, but it's good to see each other. Lemko has learned and we have learned a lot. If we have another problem this year, it will be something else. It won't happen again.