Wout van Aert is reaching the World Championships which will be a prime goal for the season, and this weekend at the Canadian classics he will be testing his legs in similar types of racing to that that will be raced in Wollongong.
“These two races are on the bucket list for me to win. Winning these races itself is a big goal," Van Aert said prior to the GP de Québec, where he will be leading the team alongside Christophe Laporte. "So far it’s a really cool experience. It’s a completely different vibe than we’re used to in the European races where everybody is a bit on their own. Here, everyone is more or less all together. That's nice. I’m looking forward to the races. I saw the final kilometres today of a little bit of the circuit in Quebec and it looks really hard. It’s really for explosive riders, for Classic specialists. They’re races we’re really motivated for.”
He will start as perhaps the main favourite for both races, however Québec specifically suits the Belgian very well. This will be his final step as a launchpad for the World Championships, but he will face tough competition and resistance this weekend. He will be teaming up with Evenepoel at the Worlds, who is currently leading the Vuelta.
“The best rider in the races should win and of course, as a Belgian, it's nice to see what's happening now," he said of his compatriot. “I always saw Primož as his biggest rival because he's also a winner and he has the experience to win the Grand Tour. For sure he had plans in the last week and also you could see yesterday he was strong, that’s why it’s a pity he crashed. Everybody in Belgium is crossing his fingers for a new Grand Tour winner. We have a big cycling history but it's been a really long time since we’ve had a GC winner. Remco has been one of the strongest riders, so he’d deserve to win it.” The Belgian is currently leading the Vuelta with over two minutes over Enric Mas with two mountain stages remaining.
“I was cheering for Primož and I think he did a really really nice attack, something that nobody expected from the GC guys. It was a shame to see him crash," Van Aert added, regarding his teammate. "I saw immediately that even though he finished the stage, it was going to be really hard to overcome his injuries. It was dramatic to see."
However, the 27-year does not doubt that his teammate will bounce back once again, just as he has before the Vuelta when he crashed at the Tour de France and broke two vertebrae. “He’s mentally super tough guy but also for him sometimes it can be too much and I can imagine it was a big setback. It will probably be hard to overcome this crash but I'm convinced he will manage to do that," he concluded.
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