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Wout van Aert all in for yellow dream: "My own ambitions will come up again in the weekend"
CyclingMonday, 18 July 2022 at 19:30
Wout van Aert has not only brought in plenty of wins and top results for Jumbo-Visma at this Tour de France, but has also essentially sealed the win in the points classification and provided valuable support for Jonas Vingegaard. In this final week, he will be more important than ever.
“Mentally I need it to take my chance every now and then. That motivates me to help Jonas or other teammates on other days," he said regarding his own battles for the win. "I would lose my motivation a bit if I had to ride alone for three weeks in service. The team sees it this way: they know they can count on me on days when I can't win myself," he explains.
A rider with as much versatility and quality as van Aert is difficult to convince into a domestique role. However he has been doing the job very well, nevertheless having been criticized on social media. “I also need goals for myself. It seems boring to me if I just have to get over the mountains and finish within the time limit. I am grateful that I have something to do every day," he responds.
Over the last two weeks he has been in the spotlight countless times, whether from stage wins, crashes, breakaways to defending the yellow jersey, it's a constant task he handles at Jumbo-Visma: “It seems that I am racing every day, but if you look closely, you can see that I always take it easy on a final climb. I do a lot of work on the road, but there are times when I can take it easy. That's the biggest advantage and the reason I can do it every day."
Now with the points classification almost secured and the yellow jersey as the main priority, the direction in his race changes slightly. “But we have already seen the whole Tour that we are all performing at a top level. We are still strong enough to control the race. But it all starts with Jonas' legs, who feels OK after his crash. When he has the legs from the past two weeks, we only have to drop him off for the final. We have confidence in Jonas.”
He's mentioned that, as was the case in the stages to Alpe d'Huez and Mende, Jumbo-Visma pay particular attention to the start and having a breakaway that does not pose an issue to the team's tactics. “Especially the initial phase is tricky, especially because we are now riding with fewer riders. We have to create situations that are easy to control. It is important not to let too many riders of competing teams pull away at the start of these stages. Uphill we do have the riders, with Sepp and Jonas," he explained.
"My own ambitions will come up again in the weekend with the time trial and the final stage to Paris, but now the yellow prevails," Van Aert concluded.
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