Wout van Aert insisted we’ll see him in Nice on the ultimate day of the Tour de France, with the Belgian indicating he wanted on daily basis of the race to be able to haul himself again into the kind of type wanted to be aggressive on the Olympic Games.
Speaking at a Visma-Lease a Bike press convention on the primary relaxation day of the Tour de France on Monday, Van Aert refuted the suggestion from Belgium’s nationwide selector, Sven Vanthourenhout, that he would possibly beat an early retreat for the Tour to be able to put together for Paris.
“I used to be a bit shocked to learn that, as a result of it was by no means mentioned with Sven,” Van Aert said. “The intention has at all times been to complete the Tour. I actually need this race to search out myself once more.”
The Tour de France was not a part of Van Aert’s plan as mapped out at the beginning of the yr, with a Giro d’Italia debut set to be adopted by a tailor-made strategy to the Olympics, the place he’ll line up within the street race and time trial. However, the heavy crash he suffered in the midst of the Spring Classics compelled him again to the drafting board.
After making his return to motion on the Tour of Norway in late May, Van Aert was deemed match sufficient to assist Jonas Vingegaard on the Tour, whereas additionally working his means again in direction of his high type.
“I do not actually have that feeling but, I’m fairly drained after these first 9 days,” Van Aert stated of his progress. “You often solely really feel after the Tour that issues are actually going nicely. I do know that fatigue performs to my benefit. I’m assured that I’ll proceed to enhance.”
Van Aert performed a distinguished position on Sunday’s gravel stage, notably dictating the tempo within the bunch on the latter off-road sectors, on a day the place Vingegaard rose to the event.
“I’m glad after yesterday’s journey, as a result of as a staff we achieved our purpose and on a private stage as a result of I felt good and was in a position to contribute. But there’s a distinction between actually combating for victory and the work I did yesterday,” Van Aert defined.
“I’ve ridden the Tour typically sufficient to know the way good you need to be to win a stage. I had excessive hopes for that after the primary weekend, however the previous few days have been fairly troublesome for me and I did not have that feeling. So I made a decision to take it slower.”
Van Aert bumped into specific problem within the stage 7 time trial, his twenty fourth place end – some 1:51 behind his victorious compatriot Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) – being a way wanting the potential that has seen him win Tour de France time trials up to now. As such, his ambitions for the Olympic time trial in Paris on July 27, six days after the Tour concludes with its second time trial, have been dampened.
“I’m not a favourite there. I already wasn’t, and I can’t get again into that position. The numbers I set on Friday have been very removed from what I can usually do,” Van Aert stated. “It’s a 30km time trial in Paris, for which I’m tremendous motivated, however it will likely be very troublesome to win a medal there.”
Still, the street race is one other story, and it is not like there’s nothing to combat for on this Tour de France past merely reaching the top.
“A stage win has at all times been the purpose. Hopefully that can occur within the second week. The [final] week within the mountains will likely be very powerful,” Van Aert concluded.
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