Cycling superstar Wout van Aert tried an attack on the second stage of the Tour de France, but ultimately had to delete the sails. Fans don’t have to worry about the Belgian.
80th place on the mammoth stage of Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer was not the result that Wout van Aert and his team Visma-Lease A Bike presented. “We had the plan that Wout sprints today, but unfortunately that didn’t work,” team boss Grischa Niemann had to see on “Sporza” on Sunday.
Van Aert was one of the candidates for a top result in advance, but you will be captured on the plans at the racing team. Niemann: “I don’t care whether all of Belgium is against us. A WOUT in the best form is also the Wout, who gets his own chances and can also fight for stages on the tour. He always pays for this by being the best teammate.”
The Belgian all -rounder had tried an attack on the penultimate mountain, but later he could no longer keep up. “Maybe he wanted to fool himself and test himself on this penultimate climb. But he just couldn’t follow the last one,” said Niemann.
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Vingegaard: “Wanted to go to Wout today”
The reason for his break -in are the consequences of a disease that had put him out of action before the Tour de France. The 30-year-old had had to cancel the participation in the Belgian championships at short notice. That was “not the optimal preparation”: “I think we don’t have to worry, but today it was too much.”
Classification driver Jonas Vingegaard had to position himself on Sunday without his noble helper. The Dane made it to third place behind the stage winner Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar. “We wanted to go to Wout today, but he didn’t have his legs today,” said Vingegaard about his teammates.