"We should be proud" - Wout van Aert praises Vismas attitude at Tour de France and gifts team with memorable win in Paris

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have not managed to win the Tour de France, but will come out of it with two stage wins, the team's classification, second in GC and the realistically best outcome they could've hoped for in Paris as Wout van Aert surged to a massive solo win after dropping none other than Tadej Pogacar.

"I agree, it was a special day out. Really special to win on the Chmaps-Élysées once again, and of course on the first occasion where we climb to Montmarte," van Aert said in a post-race interview. With the GC times neutralized, lots of riders decided to not be in contention for the stage or take risks out front. Quickly the peloton was reduced to only a few dozen riders after the first ascent of the Butte Montmartre.

"The rain made it quite sketchy but I managed to stay upright and I had the full support of my teammates, I really have to thank them for believing in me and to try over and over again - even today," the Belgian said. "They were still there to support me, without them I couldn't control this race and now going to the last climb, leaving it all out there, it was our plan and we made it work".

The plan was to use numbers to pressure their rivals on the final lap when the leading group was down to only six riders. Matteo Jorgenson attacked several times and it's quite possible that the effort Tadej Pogacar had to do to bring back the moves was what then cost him in the final climb. Van Aert had already impressed last year at the Olympics by being the only one to match Mathieu van der Poel on this climb, and today he did the same.

Only this time, he then still had the legs to attack himself, distancing the yellow jersey and riding to a solo win - his second in Paris' main avenue. "To be honest I always wanted the 20 stages before today. I came close a few times but far off on some occasions. Even yesterday I didn't feel good enough to make the breakaway so the hardest thing for me is to keep the belief. Specially the people around me kept believing me and so I was able to do it".

But today all the pieces of the puzzle came together, and the 30-year old took a massive win to finish off the race. "We came to this Tour also with the ambition to win the yellow jersey, but the strongest rider in the race and the biggest cycling in the world won it".

"Tadej Pogacar was the strongest, we tried giving him competition, I have to say I'm proud of how we raced as a team, we tried everyday, but for sure we don't go home without prices. Like you said we won two stages, we have second on GC, we had a really great group and won the team classification so we should be proud," he concluded.