“Career best performance” – Wout van Aert smashes lifetime bests on Colle delle Finestre

Simon Yates may have taken home the Maglia Rosa at the 2025 Giro d’Italia, but inside the Team Visma | Lease a Bike camp, there’s no doubt that Wout van Aert’s contribution was just as vital to the team’s success. According to the team’s head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer, van Aert delivered the strongest hour of his entire career on the decisive climb of the Colle delle Finestre to help secure Yates’ victory.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Heijboer described van Aert’s ride on Stage 20 as unprecedented, even by the Belgian’s standards. This shows, that the Belgian is definitely approaching his best form again.

“Wout van Aert did a one hour career best performance actually,” Heijboer revealed. “He never rode faster for one hour than on the Finestre. He did all of that to make it over the top so he could support Simon in the last 15 kilometres and I think that says it all.”

Van Aert had been part of the day’s breakaway, and after cresting the summit of the Finestre, waited for Yates before towing him through the valley roads to Sestriere. It was a selfless, tactically brilliant move, one that showed the team's unity once again, after a difficult spring.

“That togetherness and shared commitment, shared goal, is something we create in the preparation for the race and that has really paid off for us, especially in the last stage,” Heijboer added.

Van Aert’s ride was even compared favourably to his landmark performances at the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, where he was pivotal in Jonas Vingegaard’s yellow jersey victories. Yet here, on Italian soil, his support role was arguably even more critical.

The team’s cohesive strategy was evident throughout the Giro. Heijboer praised not only Yates’ climbing but also the overall group effort across different stages.

“Simon did a super good climb on the Finestre,” Heijboer said, “but when you look at the Giro as a whole, I think as a team we really brought him in every time into a good position and he profited a lot from our other goals, like sprinting with Olav Kooij.”

He also acknowledged the mix of preparation and fortune that helped keep the team in control throughout three unpredictable weeks. “We couldn’t complain about the luck we had in the stage to Slovenia when a lot of guys crashed, but it was the quality of our group as a team that kept us in front.”