Wout van Aert: "I don't set limits for myself"

Wout van Aert is back at the Tour de France and as hungry as always. The Jumbo-Visma rider is not going for the green jersey this year, however he seeks to win stages and support Jonas Vingegaard towards victory in Paris once again, as was the case last year.

“The most important thing is to recover and be at your best every day. It is much more difficult than in any competition. I understood during my first Tour that sometimes you have to take a rest day, or accept that you miss a breakaway, for example, and then recover as best as possible in view of a new attempt the next day," van Aert said in an interview with Red Bull, a personal sponsor of his. "I also noticed that I could adapt to enormous efforts. And that I am less tired than others in the final week. It is in the last stages that I put in my best performances, for example on the climbs."

Van Aert is an incredibly versatile rider, however the time-trials won't likely be a field for him to thrive in this Tour, seeing as there is only one, which is suited to the climbers where he wouldn't stand many chances of winning. That narrows his focus points, and with the possible birth of his second son during the Tour and the World Championships that follow, he has also decided to forego the fight for green.

However he has also recently admitted that it may still be in the sprints that he has the best chances to take a victory at this year's race: "At training camp I combined sprint and mountain work. In addition, I also tried to spend time on the time trial bike. But I think my biggest chance of winning stages is in the sprints. Just like last year, however, there are also many opportunities in the first week."

However there will be plenty hilly days where he can succeed even if not given a leading role in the Dutch team, but a rider like van Aert, who has won on Mont Ventoux in recent years, and was among the very best in the stage to Hautacam which wrapped up the climbing action last year, virtually no stage is out of limits for the Belgian.

“The most important thing is that I don't set limits for myself. I never tell myself that something is impossible. I have always kept an open mind and always wanted to try new things," he continues. "Many people don't try anything because they think they can't. It's the kind of achievement I'm most proud of. I'm not really interested in winning the same game three or four times. I prefer to try new things, take on new challenges."

Van Aert had a very big focus on the cobbled classics this year as he attempted to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but his best chance of success was ruined by a late puncture in the run-in to Roubaix. Nevertheless that has not limited his quality. “Today I am proud of the level I have reached. As an athlete, it is essential to understand that things don't always go as expected.

"I also prepared the things that I could check down to the last detail. I still have a lot of big games to race. I really enjoy a challenge and it's great when you achieve something that everyone thought was impossible. I want to be remembered as someone who tried extraordinary things," he concluded.