"I'm not feeling well today, I'm pulling for you" - Van Aert's victory on a "bad day" in Denmark is a reminder of his greatness
CyclingSunday, 09 August 2026 at 01:00
Wout Van Aert's 2026 plans always featured his eighth Tour de France participation, but that changed when the Belgian turned up to Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in a subpar shape caused by elbow injury. The Paris-Roubaix champion was therefore replaced by Per Strand Hagenes whilst he enjoyed a slightly different run-up to alternative plan; the Vuelta a Espana which starts in two weeks.
The 31-year-old took a racing break in July and only returned for the PostNord Tour of Denmark at the end of the month. Accompanied by Christophe Laporte, the goal was nothing less than to win the Danish race. And ideally some stages along the way.
Needless to say the race has been a massive success in that regard as Van Aert confirmed his status of pre-race favourite, won three stages and the overall title. In addition, Laporte finished 4th overall.
Neo-pro Pietro Mattio was tasked with servicing the two stars, so how did Van Aert's return go from the Italian's point of view?
Read also
"We knew we had a strong team with Van Aert and Laporte, so we were moving up with the primary goal of winning the general classification," the 22-year-old outlined immediately the goals in an interview with bici.pro.
Massively successful race
Quickly, the race turned into a big success when Van Aert won first two "sprint" stages. "That gave Wout and all of us new confidence. But the third was the one we were most focused on because it was the most important."
After Van Aert underlined his dominance in the "queen" stage 3, Visma shifted towards a more defensive approach in what could turn into chaotic final sprint stages. "In the last two, we just managed things, although in the last one we even tried to sprint with Wout, but he remained a bit closed off."
In that regard, Mattio rates the entire race very highly as the mostly unexperienced team managed (consisting of five youngsters) to re-launch Van Aert ahead of the big objective of his season:
"When we set off, we knew he had to get going now, in view of what awaits him at the Vuelta, so he was really looking forward to this race. It had taken on a special flavor."
Especially sweet was that Van Aert was able to win a bunch sprint even though his ability to finish races off has been doubted many times in the past. "For a sprinter like him, even if he's not exactly a pure sprinter, winning was definitely the most important thing to arrive at the Vuelta calm and confident in his abilities. He did it three times, and I could see how he'd grown psychologically too, banishing all his doubts."
Weak Van Aert is still far stronger than most mortals
Finally, Mattio concludes with an anecdote which simply highlights how extremely good is Van Aert:
"In the third stage, which, as I said, was the most important for the overall standings and the one we were particularly keen on, at a certain point Wout said to Christophe, 'I'm not feeling well today, I'm pulling for you,' and indeed on the final climb, he was his [Laporte's] domestique, but instead he had great legs and went on to win, even outpacing Kubis and Laporte himself. He wasn't really sure about his condition, he felt he was improving along the way."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I assume Kasia is right b.c. she is more feminine.whkman09-08-2026
- "partner" ...drinkwhkman09-08-2026
- Clown statement from a CLOWN !frieders309-08-2026
- Was that Mouse next to him ? Trying to hold his hand?frieders309-08-2026
- A question: chasing back to Vollering’s wheel after being cut off doesn’t take any energy, does it? Of course it does. The complaint is very clearly that she was forced to chase and waste energy exactly in the way that let Vollering pull away. Given how she was positioned before the turn and after the turn, I see her anger. Also, racing is a team sport, and teams use all sorts of tricks to isolate riders. This is one of them. She has every right to be angry and lose respect for them, as well. Sometimes it’s appropriate to believe two things at once.RidesHills09-08-2026
- That is honestly adorable. Anyone who gives Vingegaard grief for focusing on his family should look at this and eat their words. What exactly is wrong with loving the people you love? Her caption, his delight, the way he runs with her, c’mon, it’s adorable and human and private but we get to see some of it and that’s cute.RidesHills09-08-2026
- you forgot the 😉Ketterechts09-08-2026
- yes. that could already be seen during the tour. he was unable to ride away from the likes of del toro, seixas, remco and lipo in the last stages he did ...Ketterechts09-08-2026
- I think there is something to what Kasia is saying because when Demi attacked, Kasia was SO far out of position. I was wondering how she let that happen. but if she had to stop pedaling, well, that would explain it. of course that doesn’t mean it was bad racing by FDJ. maybe Kasia should have been positioned better to start with. The easiest way to prevent an attack is to do what she did yesterday - start the attack.mij09-08-2026
- I lost respect of Kasia with this whining. IF she was cutoff, it was the least of her concerns as she had no energy to keep up regardless.onegear2908-08-2026
Loading
Write a comment