"It was Wout's explicit wish to ride the Vuelta after the Tour" - Visma will help Wout van Aert to win again at Vuelta a Espana

Wout van Aert had a clear plan for his season but the brutal crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen flipped it on it's head. No cobbled monuments, no Giro d'Italia; but instead the Tour de France and now also the Vuelta a España. The Belgian wants to win big again and Team Visma | Lease a Bike want it just as much in Spain.

"Wout is very keen to prove himself again this year. His urge to win is very strong," DS Girscha Niermann told Sporza. "The races will of course follow each other quickly for Wout this summer. But that was discussed and planned. It was Wout's explicit wish to ride the Vuelta after the Tour. He wanted to try something different and is open to new challenges. But due to his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen, things turned out a bit differently and he had to cancel the Giro."

Van Aert showed sub-optimal form during the Tour but he was on the rise and building towards the Olympics. In Paris he showed his best legs, racing to a surprising third place in the time-trial and then matching Mathieu van der Poel's attacks on the road race. Whilst he himself crashed and lost hopes of a result, his performance was key in Belgium's tactics when it came to delivering a win with Remco Evenepoel.

"As a team, we will do everything we can to help him win a stage in the Vuelta. He deserves it," Niermann assures. "We see a lot of opportunities for Wout to win. Ideally, even more than five. He will have a few strong men to support him. Wout can also win stages from the breakaway. He has already proven that in the Tour."

Van Aert came close a few times at the Tour, but his last win was at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne back in February. Last year the Vuelta featured a very modest field of sprinters and van Aert could perform there as well as on the hilly stages. Besides, he could be a pivotal support piece for defending champion Sepp Kuss.

"Sepp is the outgoing champion, but not the top favorite to win this Vuelta. That means that Wout will not have to sacrifice himself in every mountain stage. In the Tour there were only 2.5 favorites and we had one of them with Jonas. In the Vuelta there are six or seven teams that can take the final victory. So in Spain we will not have to control every mountain stage from kilometer marker 0, which means that Wout will have a different role than in the Tour," he concluded.