"Wide tyres, really low pressure" - How Wout van Aert prepared his bike to beat Tadej Pogacar at Tour de France

The Tour de France victory was the highlight of Wout van Aert's 2025 season, a triumph that saved his race, created a perfect finale for Team Visma | Lease a Bike and also showed he was still one of the very top riders. He explains now how his bike setup played a role in dropping and beating Tadej Pogacar.

“I took quite some risks, but it didn’t feel like that. It felt like everything was in control,” he said on Visma's Inside the Beehive podcast. The day in Paris was wet and this led to a neutralization of times. There would be no fight for the overall classification, but a win in Paris - with the yellow jersey - would be one to frame for Tadej Pogacar.

And so the race leader was there present, and with the best once the rain began to split. In the final lap only a few riders remained and Pogacar pushed the pace up the final ascent to the Montmartre, but van Aert had an extra gear. He then rode the finale by himself, holding off the chasing group. "It doesn’t happen too often arriving alone on the Champs Élysées.” 

To achieve this, the Belgian took advantage of his expertise with the bike, a rider who is a cyclocross and cobbled classics specialist. He knew how far he could take the bike to get every bit of advantage over the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider, and it worked. “I gambled: wide tyres, really low pressure. I had the perfect setup for the finale," he looks back.

Van Aert is going into 2026 more relaxed after some time off, including a trip to the USA. He was able to have a regular winter without having to nurse a major injury as was the case in 2024, and will begin his cyclocross campaign this Saturday in Antwerp.

“Mentally it’s been a way better winter where I had really time to relax and to enjoy life a little bit," he says. He was present at Visma's recent training camp, and in mid January he will talk to the media and reveal his goals, schedule and more.

He also looks back at the 'mini Strade Bianche' stage, which he won ahead of Isaac del Toro at the Giro d'Italia. “I never thought I would have a chance to win that stage, especially not from the GC group. I was completely dead, but I still believed I could have a chance. My experience and my winner’s mentality came in in the final few kilometers.”