"I’ve preferred to enjoy the end with my friends" - Wout van Aert finishes wildly successful Tour de France in green

A rider as versatile and talented as Wout van Aert can at times be complicated to manage when the team carries other ambitions. However Jumbo-Visma have used and supported the Belgian rider to the very best of it's abilities and he was a major card of the team's success.

“The green jersey means a lot to me. It means that I’ve been up there for the whole race. I’ve scored points almost every day," he said, having reached his goal. "Let’s not forget that we announced that goal last winter and we have reached it by winning both yellow and green jerseys. It’s a huge achievement and we can be proud of it".

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Van Aert dedicated himself to that jersey this year, and has taken a dominant win in the classification, confirming it with several days left to race and having an advantage of almost 200 points over Jasper Philipsen who went on to finish second. He won the stages into Calais, Lausanne and the time-trial into Rocamadour, alongside four more second places and a third in Hautacam where he put on his best climbing performance of the year whilst helping Jonas Vingegaard to a GC-burying stage win. 

"At the end of the day, we’ve won three jerseys and six stages. That makes us the team of this Tour. After I secured the green jersey, I also managed to focus on the work I could do for my team-mates. That also worked well," he said. He proved to be crucial support, many times being in breakaways to later serve as support, but also being crucial in the fifth stage when the Dane suffered a mechanical and had van Aert to bring him back into the peloton.

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After the time-trial in which he and Vingegaard finished first and second, the Belgian explains that he felt the race was completed to perfection. "Today I didn’t go for the stage win because it wasn’t necessary," he said. "After that [stage 20], I was so emotional that in my legs and my head, I wasn’t able to try and win today. I’ve preferred to enjoy the end with my friends. It sums up what we’ve experienced on this Tour.”

Sure enough, although the injuries of Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk cast a dark shadow, it could've hardly gone any better for Jumbo-Visma who led a lot of the race, won the three main classifications, six stage wins and was in the spotlight from start to finish.

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