"To miss out on the victory is a bitter pill to swallow" - Wout van Aert disappointed not to capitalize on full day of work for Visma at La Vuelta

Wout van Aert has already won on three occasions at this Vuelta a España and has climbed to the podium as the leader of both points and KOM classifications. However, it can't be denied that the Belgian will have felt disappointed after not taking the stage win today after Team Visma | Lease a Bike worked all day long to control a dangerous breakaway.

“I am of course disappointed, after the teamwork we showed. To miss out on the victory is a bitter pill to swallow. I expected the last climb to be a bit harder," the Belgian said in a post-race interview. The day did not see the breakaway to succeed, and that was largely due to the Dutch team's work; who stepped up right after a six-rider group went off the front. In great form, Van Aert was without a doubt a big favourite to win the stage if the race came back together and with the final climb lacking high gradients there was the decision to work towards a sprint.

Visma did the work, but in the end the climb was raced without the difficulty that could on paper drop Kaden Groves. In the final sprint the Alpecin-Deceucinck rider had teammates to lead him out, and then won the sprint against the green jersey. That little bit needed may have not been there after van Aert sprinted at the top of the climb for the KOM points, but also after his massive effort on the breakaway in stage 13.

“Maybe. But on the other hand, I think he had a pretty tough day in the breakaway. In hindsight, it’s never easy to win stages. But when I look at today, we did a great job. No other team dared to control it. We did it, we made it a sprint. It’s a shame I couldn’t finish it, but it was really good teamwork," he continues.

He without a doubt had the legs to win, but was beaten by the other sprinter in the race that is carrying great form and can climb quite well in Spain. "He was a real rider. It is never easy, but between the wheels it was pretty easy. The sprinters didn't go off, but I was still confident that I could do my best sprint and finish it. But when we got to the last 250 meters, I felt the cramp. Kaden was just a little bit stronger," he concluded.