"I went all the way to the limit" - Wout van Aert left gasping for air after taking 2nd on brutal stage 13 of 2025 Giro d'Italia

Wout van Aert has really grown in strength as the 2025 Giro d'Italia has gone on. Despite another powerful performance on stage 13 though, a second stage win of the race didn't materialise for the Belgian as he was forced to settle for 2nd, once again, behind Mads Pedersen.

On a truly brutal uphill finale in Veneto, both Pedersen and Van Aert gapped the entirety of the rest of the peloton in their sprint. Understandably, Van Aert was gasping for breathe as he spoke to the Belgian media at the finish line. "It was a tough finish," Van Aert panted, visibly exhausted by his efforts. "And the final stretch was brutal. I went all the way to the limit."

"I didn’t dare to start too early on this finish," added the Team Visma | Lease a Bike superstar. "Mads came alongside, and while I could respond to his acceleration, as usual, he was incredibly hard to overtake."

Earlier on in the day though, it looked as if Van Aert wasn't even going to be in the mix at all, after he was seen out the back of the peloton on one of the prior climbs. "Unfortunately, I missed a corner at one point because of a rider in front of me. I ended up in a dangerous spot where riders were flying out of the turn," he explained of that situation. "I didn’t want to risk anyone’s safety by jumping straight back onto the road, but I burned a lot of energy trying to get back."