Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 6:32 PM
Wout van Aert surprised himself in the opening stage of the Tour de France. Not only was he one of the few fast men to survive all the slopes, he also won the peloton sprint for third place in Rimini.
“This was a successful test. I never expected this, I am super happy with this,” he said in front of the camera of Sporza. “I just felt good today, and as the situation was I had a chance to win a stage. Somehow I regained my confidence during the race. There are two strong riders ahead, who are also teammates. Then you know that they are going to drive head to head. Congratulations to them, we couldn’t really do much more, so we are satisfied.”
Visma | Lease a Bike also set the pace in the final, to pilot Van Aert to a possible stage win. “We completely changed the switch on the last climb, that was no longer the most difficult. We were already riding beforehand to keep the gap limited, but we had to let the other teams help to close the gap. After the last climb, control was quickly established.”
Van Aert seemed to become increasingly emotional during the interview, and after his last answer he got a lump in his throat. “It is very rewarding,” concluded Van Aert, who was out for a long time after his heavy crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen and has been preparing himself for this Tour in recent weeks.
2024-06-29 16:32:00
#Emotional #Wout #van #Aert #place #gratifying
