Did you like the 2021 vintage? Mont Ventoux, time trial in Saint-Emilion and finally a sprint on the Champs-Elysées for a triptych from another time. Nobody waited this year to know that Wout van Aert was a jack-of-all-trades coupled with an “I can do everything”, all sprinkled with a natural and indisputable class. The one who sent him into orbit in a hell of a soloist number in the wind and from the North. The time when he played his personal card, from Denmark to Lausanne via Calais, after a bewildering first week.
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If they continue like this with Van Aert, they will lose the Tour
What had the Jumbo-Visma and the Belgian not heard at the end of these first days of total freedom? Bjarne Riis, the former winner and sporting director, spoke out against the critics of Lasste Nieuws: “He’s been running around stupidly for a few days. If I had to put in place a strategy to win the Tour, he would have a very big role because he is a rider who changes the game. If he burns all his cartridges, he will be too tired and he will have a good chance of being absent on the decisive day. There is a concern for leadership. They don’t have the courage to call Wout to order because he has a big personality. But if they continue like this, they will lose the Tour.”
Time will tell if the stage passing by the Telegraph, the Galibier and the Granon was “the decisive day” of this Grande Boucle 2022 but Wout van Aert was in any case present there and the general classification was upset there. Sent in the breakaway of the day, he had given a big helping hand… to Primoz Roglic by bringing him back to the Vingegaard-Pogacar group. This allowed the Slovenian to ride for the one who was to become his leader and that of the Tour a few tens of minutes later. Tired Van Aert, as predicted by Riis? Not the least in the world since he still towed the peloton in the stage of Alpe d’Huez and even very far in the mythical ascent.
The palette: how van Aert came out of the box to style Matthews and Pogacar on the line
Fireman Van Aert
Who else did we see at the front of the peloton on the 14th stage to Mende? And above all, who did we see as Tadej Pogacar’s watchdog at the very start of the day when he tried to leave 183 miles from goal to trap the yellow jersey? Wout van Aert of course. The Belgian is an incredible asset for Jonas Vingegaard. He can both protect him from shots like the one attempted by the Slovenian but also serve him in the high mountains. Of course, he will probably not be there three kilometers from the finish in Peyragudes or Hautacam but that is not his role, rather that of Kuss. On the other hand, the firefighter Van Aert will have the task of extinguishing the fire if it breaks out far from the finish. And he will undoubtedly do so with both pleasure and brilliance.
In short, as long as “WVA” is at his side, Jonas Vingegaard does not have much to fear, at least not tactically because the Belgian colossus will be there to fill any gaps. Van Aert puts as much application into his role as teammate as he put conviction into that of free spirit. He succeeded perfectly in his first part of the Tour, he is in the process of doing the same with the second. And for Jumbo-Visma, it’s double good news.
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