“Worst idea of the week" - Wout van Aert brought back down to earth after Tour de France triumph with comical passport photo update

Wout van Aert may have just pulled off one of the most memorable stage wins in recent Tour de France history — but the Belgian star’s greatest challenge immediately after the race wasn’t on a bike, it was in front of a passport photo booth.

Fresh off a sensational victory on the rain-slicked cobbles of the Champs-Élysées, where Van Aert stunned fans by dropping the seemingly unstoppable yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar on the final brutal climb of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre, he found himself facing a decidedly less glamorous task: renewing his passport photo.

“Worst idea of the week: Renewing my passport photo one day after finishing the Tour de France,” Van Aert admitted on Instagram with a self-deprecating tone, sharing the results of the fresh photo shoot. And judging by the slightly weary look in the new snapshots — taken just a day after his gruelling Tour finale — it’s hard to disagree.

The final stage of the 2025 Tour de France was a spectacle for the ages. After neutralising the general classification times at the circuit’s entrance due to heavy rain, many riders took it easy. But Van Aert threw caution to the wind, unleashing a devastating attack on the final ascent of the cobbled climb that featured in the 2024 Olympic course. He dropped Pogacar — who had been dominant all race — and powered to a remarkable victory.

Yet just hours later, Van Aert was trading in his race kit for a more mundane setting, facing the unrelenting glare of the passport photo booth’s camera. The contrast was striking: from hero of the Tour’s grandest stage to the eternal struggle of “please don’t blink” that comes with a new official photo.

Van Aert’s honesty and humour about the timing of the photo shoot have struck a chord with fans — proving that the Belgian remains one of the most entertaining figures in the peloton.