"Visma have something UAE don’t: Wout van Aert" - Danish icon sees Tour de France difference maker
CyclingTuesday, 24 June 2025 at 09:29
One of the biggest questions heading into the 2025 Tour de France, is who will be better supported of the two main Maillot Jaune challengers. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar can rely on super teams alongside them at Team Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates - XRG respectively, but according to one former Tour de France stage winner, it's Visma that have the advantage.
“Everyone agrees João Almeida will be an excellent helper in the mountains — a real asset for UAE. But Visma have something UAE don’t: Wout van Aert," explains the Danish cycling icon Rolf Sorensen in his analysis for TV2.de. "He (Van Aert ed.) was decisive for Jonas in previous Tours, and he played the same role for Simon Yates in this year’s Giro. It was largely down to him that Yates won by such a margin."
"He’s a real wildcard, and he looks to be back at 100 percent," continues the 60-year-old, two-time Tour de France stage winner, insisting that Van Aert can - and likely will - be a difference maker at the Tour de France this year. "He could end up being race-defining, a piece of the puzzle that tips the balance.”
As noted by Sorensen's colleague on TV2, former Giro d'Italia stage winner Lars Bak, the importance of having a quality team around you isn't just for Vingegaard and Pogacar's benefit in the mountains either.
“There’s wind, crashes, and stress — so you need riders who can keep you out of trouble. Especially this year, you can’t afford to get caught behind if there’s a crosswind. On paper, Visma are better than UAE in crosswinds,” explains the 45-year-old Dane.
Here too though, Bak sees Visma ahead of UAE. “In terms of support, Matteo Jorgenson is more complete than Almeida. He can ride in crosswinds and could even win the Tour of Flanders," concludes the Dane's analysis. "Looking at the full package, he’ll be there when it counts — especially in the early crosswind stages.”
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- Jonas is maxed out, you can have a solid team but if you can't drop the main protagonist then you lose. I give him credit for believing in himself and doing his best, and let's be honest, he's better than every other stage racer except for Tadej. If you don't race much in the lead up to July it's hard to do anything special in the Tour, no matter how good you are.awp24-07-2025
- If that's what it is. Seems more like a pathetic attempt at mind games.Renz24-07-2025
- Of course Jonas's chances of winning are mostly over, barring a Pogi crash. But of course Jonas isn't going to say that until Pogi victory is truly inevitable. Just like Pogi in 2022 - not admitting defeat. Shouldn't we admire rather than mock the fighting spirit?mobk24-07-2025
- 4 minutes, some weird visma tactics and a very strong Pogacar … well yea it is over.ChrisBe24-07-2025
- Jonas loses every time Pogacar goes one to one with him. Then says afterwards the race isn't over. He has been transformed into a PR machine.Renz24-07-2025
- Really unbiased choice of words for the title, lol! Here's another alternative: Pogacar hangs to dear life and UAE exploded after another brilliant strategy day from Visma and best ever performance from Vingegaard! And only lose miserable 10 seconds to the leaderLobz7724-07-2025
- Maybe you could just crawl under a rock instead?mobk24-07-2025
- It’s pretty much over minus a catastrophe befalling Pogacar. I don’t see Jonas clawing back his deficit on any single stage. He’s gained back not a single second since Pogi took yellow.TeddyPangolin24-07-2025
- The team was ok? Jonas, phones Trine. Jorgenson in the last breakaway trying to win the stage.... pietà.
maria2024202424-07-2025 - Sorry Jonas yes it is over.
MrCampy24-07-2025
He shone really well in 1 tour and he's incredible as a super domestique. Goes better when not riding with MvdP in the pack
I wonder how well Mathieu van der Poel could play a Wout van Aert style role as a super domestíque - what would it be like if Alpecin-deceuninck had a GC rider?
AND lead-out for the sprinter? I think in the mountains Wout is a little more useful (and probably enjoys climbing a bit more) and generally that’s where it counts in GTs
Yes, that is quite obvious (not wanting to be patronising), but everyone knows how similar Van Aert and Van der Poel are - and yet they have different roles, in which they are very successful. Van der Poel has said that he doesn't have the liking for the Tour de France grind, unlike Van Aert
Van der Poel can sustain a super high power, that's how he won Paris-Roubaix (though his superb bike handling was equally important). That's why I think he could potentially play an important role for GC, just like Wout has done
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, there have been races where he’s been peculiarly unresponsive to challenges
Mostly that's because he knows he doesn't have much of a chance, e.g in the olympics. I think that if he had a proper chance to get something out of the mountain stages [i.e if he had a GC leader]
look at how useful Van Aert can be as a leadout man or sprinter in his own right