Jumbo-Visma react to Wout van Aert's Tour de France departure: "We think the person behind the rider is important"

Wout van Aert has left the Tour de France in a move that comes not totally out of the blue. His wife Sarah is heavily pregnant, with a baby expected any day now with Jumbo-Visma expressing they were more than willing to support their superstar.

"Yesterday, Wout was taken from the bus almost inconspicuously to the helicopter with the Van Eerd family, of our main sponsor Jumbo. He took him to a private plane with which he flew home. He has not been to the hotel again," explains the team's sports director Arthur van Dongen to Het Nieuwsblad. "It was already coming since the rest day."

The fact that Jonas Vingegaard has seemingly secured the overall victory at the Tour de France is no doubt helpful, although Jumbo-Visma stress that they would have allowed van Aert to leave whenever he wished no matter the GC situation.

"On Monday we were informed that it was already starting to get crowded at home and from there we followed it closely from day to day. That Monday evening he told the riders," van Dongen continues. "Some of them also have children, so they responded very understandingly. It was not a real surprise, because we knew in advance that this was a possibility. This may have happened less often in the past, but we think the person behind the rider is important."

"He's a great team player," added Richard Plugge on Eurosport. "He only left yesterday. That was an important ride for the team and he was waiting for it. That shows what a great person he is."