13/08/2024

"Let's start by aiming for a stage win" - Wout van Aert confident and motivated for Vuelta a Espana debut

Wout van Aert will face his first major stage race of his career that is not the Tour de France: the Vuelta a España 2024. The Belgian, after a very complicated year so far, says he is more than excited about his participation in the Spanish race, especially considering that he did not leave the Grande Boucle fatigued and that he felt very good during the Olympic Games in Paris.

"I'm very excited about the Vuelta. During the Tour, I really found my good legs towards the end, which also allowed me to get a good result at the Olympics. I don't feel exhausted," he said in a press release issued by the team alongside the confirmation of his presence at the Vuelta. "Of course, it remains to be seen how my body will react to racing two Grand Tours in one year, simply because I've never done it before. But I'm confident that I can cope well with this Vuelta, especially because in other years I used to come out of the Tour much more exhausted."

Visma confirm '8' for Vuelta a Espana featuring defending champion Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert

He is naturally ambitious ahead of the start in Lisbon next Saturday, August 17, and is clear that he wants to feel the adrenaline rush of raising his arms to celebrate a victory: "I want to take advantage of these good feelings to win again. I'm really looking forward to it. Let's start by aiming for a stage win. Hopefully that will lead to three successful weeks. There are already good opportunities in the first few days." He could be a favourite to take the red jersey right on the opening day with the short time-trial.

On the other hand, as he has always done in the Tour de France supporting Primoz Roglic in his first years and Jonas Vingegaard in his last years, he assures that he will give his all in the general classification to try to win again with Sepp Kuss or, why not, with Cian Uijtdebroeks (even though the team has stated that he will have his freedom): "Maybe the red jersey could be an option then. My personal goal is to get stage wins. Also, I want to be valuable for Sepp and Cian."