Wout Van Aert creates a significant gap in GC after some old school tactics: "It started as a joke when we looked at the roadbook"
Cycling
Wout van Aert also claimed his victory in the Tour of Britain. The Belgian from Jumbo saw teammate Olav Kooij keep his legs still in the last corner, after which Van Aert was able to take the victory.
Afterwards, Van Aert says that his victory was a preconceived plan. "It started as a joke when we looked at the roadbook, but then everyone started thinking about it seriously. It turned out not to be such a bad plan, because if someone did respond, the peloton would be pulled into a ribbon and Olav would still have a chance of winning the stage."
"Races can sometimes be boring, that's why it's nice to make things a bit more exciting. I couldn't believe it when I looked back and saw that I had a big gap. This is a very special victory for me. It is always tricky to make such a plan, but it was executed perfectly."
Van Aert is now also leader in the general classification. In Felixstowe he crossed the line three seconds ahead of the peloton. "This is a big gap in terms of the general classification. There are no bonus seconds to be earned here, so I have to be dropped in the coming days to lose the leader's jersey. This is a very good situation."
Check the video to see how they did this!
Read also
It's an old trick, 2 team mates are at the front, they go around a corner, the first team mate rides his heart out, the second doesn't pedal thru the corner and pedals less strenuously afterwards. A gap opens between 1st and 2nd team mates. Now anyone who wants to catch the 1st guy has to expend a ton of energy to bridge the gap. Hence how Wout won.
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- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025
- Tricky one as while I agree Pogi and UAE are simply faster over a long distance which means Visma and MVP need to be as smart with energy use as can, it's also been proven in the past that one way for Pogi to be beaten is relentless attacks, to put him into the red. However that does require a rider to as good as sacrifice themselves for that one move which makes riskHoopoeChai07-04-2025