"Matthew is our best chance of victory" - Wout van Aert willingly sacrifices Deutschland Tour stage win chances for 20-year old teammate

Wout van Aert is a very strong rider in his own right, Giro and Tour stage winner this year alongside fourth in Flanders and Roubaix, but it's his willingness to work as a domestique that sets him apart from other big leaders. At the Deutschland Tour, he's working for upcoming star Matthew Brennan for the first time.

The Belgian, building up towards the Canadian classics which will be his final goals of the road season, has done very important work this year for Simon Yates and Jonas Vingegaard in the sprints, and in the past also became a key leadout man for Olav Kooij. Not having his peak form yet, he's spent this Deutschland Tour in a mix of trying his own chances and working for Matthew Brennan.

On stage 3, he closed down the late attack of Soren Waerenskjold and led the front group out into the final sprint to help his British teammate fight for victory - only for Brennan to be closed by Danny van Poppel, who was relegated because of the move.

"I noticed on Friday that I might have one good shot, but that's not enough to be with him for the entire final. That's why Matthew is our best chance of victory. It's logical that we're focusing on him," van Aert said in words to Het Nieuwsblad.

With the likes of Jonathan Milan, Jordi Meeus and other quality sprinters, the German race has a stronger sprint field than the World Tour-ranked Vuelta a España or Renewi Tour that are also taking place, but the Team Visma | Lease a Bike duo still have the chance to take one more stage win: "On paper, it's the easiest stage there is. Normally, it always ends up being a sprint. It'll be more challenging than the past few days. I'll need my cartridge to launch Matthew,"