Geraint Thomas, a podium finisher at the last two editions of the Giro d'Italia, has been watching the drama unfold from home this time around and the Welshman has sympathy for the struggles Van Aert is going through.
"It's a shame to see Wout get dropped. He's just not 100% is he?" Thomas asks rhetorically on the latest episode of his Watts Occurring podcast. "It's just sad to see, because it's horrible when you're in that position - such a big rider and everyone is watching you and you're just suffering."
A former Tour de France winner, Thomas knows all about the pressures of expectation when things aren't quite going right in the big races. "I'm not saying I'm as big a rider as him or Remco Evenepoel and that, but even when I've been in that situation it is shit," explains the
INEOS Grenadiers leader. "You're going up a climb, you're getting spat out and you've got that TV camera in your face and everyone's watching you and you're just suffering. You just want to be anywhere else. But, Wout is a fighter isn't he! Getting that second place already, so hopefully he gets better."