"Normally that's something that suits me" - Wout van Aert eyeing Col du Galibier stage win at the Tour de France?

Bad luck continues the plaque Team Visma | Lease a Bike in 2024. Despite the overwhelmingly positive performance of Jonas Vingegaard so far at the Tour de France, Wout van Aert was denied a chance to fight for the stage win on stage 3, being caught behind a late crash.

In a frantic and messy finale in Torino, the likes of Mark Cavendish and Jasper Philipsen were among those to hit the deck, before Biniam Girmay eventually prevailed in a history making bunch sprint. "I had to brake for those crashes," an exasperated van Aert explains in a post-stage conversation with Team Visma | Lease a Bike's official social media pages.

In a more thorough review of the stage, van Aert reflected more in a post-stage interview, with quotes collected by In de Leiderstrui. "I was right behind the crash. Luckily I was able to avoid it, but I had to brake really hard. Then there was a gap in the peloton and it was game over," the 29-year-old details. "I tried to join up for a while, but after a kilometre I still wasn't in the slipstream of those other guys. Then you know you're not going to be able to sprint anymore."

As mentioned, Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader Jonas Vingegaard has been faultless so far this race. On stage 4 the biggest test of the Dane's recovery comes with the Col du Galibier. With the stage ending with a post-Galibier descent however, van Aert himself is fancying his chances of success.

"Normally that's something that suits me," the Belgian admits. "What my role will be, will still have to be determined. It depends on how the other guys do in supporting Jonas. Based on that, we can decide what I'm going to do. I had mainly hoped to be able to sprint here, so that's a shame for now. If you don't get to sprint, it's always a bit frustrating. You charge yourself up to go for such a victory. But on the other hand: in a pure sprint, everything really has to go right."