"I tried to attack a few times, but then I went completely over and I was dropped" - Wout van Aert has rare bad legs on stage 10 of the Tour de France

Wout van Aert had something of a rollercoaster day on stage 10 at the 2023 Tour de France. One of the main protagonists early on, the Belgian made multiple attempts to form a breakaway. Once they failed however, van Aert completely exploded, something he admits surprised him.

"It was one big explosion for me. I didn't have the legs I wanted," the Jumbo-Visma superstar told Sporza in a post-stage interview. "I tried to attack a few times, but then I went completely over and I was dropped. That hasn't happened to me very often. I really gave up. Of course, I had hoped to be in that leading group, but I didn't have the legs and in the end, it was also great chaos, with all kinds of classification riders who attacked."

Once the break finally formed and the race began to settle down van Aert was able to rejoin the peloton. Then after seemingly have some second wind actually went on the attack once again, this time alongside Mathieu van der Poel.

"There appeared to be a gap behind us and we went down hard, but on that climb that followed I knew we couldn't cross," van Aert explains of the surprise move. “It was also very hot, so the conditions were tough. We have to try to deal with that. The condition is certainly okay and I felt better in the final, but I didn't feel really good in this stage."