Van Aert pivotal in another Jumbo-Visma win, focuses on coming two stages

Wout van Aert opted not to be a part of today's sprint stage to Cahors towards the pointy end, however he provided support for the team which ended up launching Christophe Laporte to a career-changing win.

"It was a super fast stage, with a small possibility of crosswinds that pushed us to stay at the front. I felt good throughout the stage and kept Jonas [Vingegaard] safe all the way to the final kilometres," the green jersey said in the post-race interview. With the mountains behind, van Aert has the chance to still fight for wins however the utter dominance in the points jersey and sheer success in the race had him opt to give his teammate Christophe Laporte the opportunity.

"Normally this would have been a sprint for me, but I was feeling a bit tired in the morning after all the efforts I did yesterday. It would have been difficult for me to win and the green jersey is already secured, so it was nice to give Chris a chance to do his own thing," he explained. "He works a lot for the team and he deserves it. It’s beautiful that he won, and I’m very happy for him."

The Frenchman, who he helped win aswell at Paris-Nice, has been racing together with Van Aert all years long, a duo that has worked perfectly throughout the season and have taken each other's game to a superior level: "I’ve known Christophe for years, not only as a a teammate. We have been racing together a lot this season and I’ve seen firsthand how he can be strong on the flat and the lead-outs, but also in the mountains and the small climbs as he has showed these days," van Aert praised his teammate.

"I will try to win again on tomorrow’s time trial. I hope to have good legs – better ones than today," he concluded.