Wout van Aert rues missed sprint opportunity: "It was a sprint at seventy kilometers per hour, after an easy day. That's not my strong point"
Cycling
Wout van Aert finished fifth in the 16th stage of the Tour de France 2024, finishing in Nîmes. The Visma - Lease a Bike Belgian was never really in the fight for victory during the final sprint, losing momentum in the chaotic last kilometer and not having the legs to match Jasper Philipsen.
"I didn't feel great," he told Sporza after the race. In the final kilometers, Van Aert was supported by his French teammate Christophe Laporte. "Initially, I was well positioned with Christophe. However, in the last kilometer there were some very treacherous roundaobouts. One kilometer from the finish there was a really tricky roundabout," explained Van Aert.
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"There was a bit of a struggle with the elbows, which made us lose momentum and I also lost Christophe as my leadout. It's a shame. Then I had a clear path for the sprint, but I didn't have the legs to finish any closer," he added. The stage was marked by intense heat on the road to Nîmes, "I usually cope well with the heat, but today it wasn't the case. I didn't feel great," Van Aert confessed.
Despite not having his best day, Van Aert wasn't worried about his performance. "Does it raise doubts? Not really. Good legs can't disappear. I recovered well from the last few days, but maybe after the rest day I wasn't active enough. You also have to remember that it was a sprint at seventy kilometers per hour, after an easy day. That's not my strong point," concluded the 29-year-old cyclist.
Van Aert has his eyes on the Olympic Games which will take place in two and half weeks in Paris, but he still has a chance to shine in this Tour on stage 18 into Barcelonette. However, with three mountain stages left, he will remain an important piece of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's plan to continue to take the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Mathieu and Wout!!! You must start in CX this winter! (hope you reading comments here...) ;-)averagecyclist12-11-2026
- Who made you site boss?Lozza12-11-2026
- This shows so well you’ve never ventured out to a cycling event and checked out spectators.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- I preferred the one about amateur riders and passing (perhaps to explain why he can’t ride at 220 which would probably be more effective to return to shape).Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Not just ManU, far worse in some minority sports ventures.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- From your writing it sounds like you’ve been sharing your views with people here for quite a while, quite presumouptuous for a new profile.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Which is amazing given his weight and size, though, unlike in boxing and some rare instances we haven’t a clue what his fighting weight was. Anybody know why these “public” figures floated around are considered as being accurate?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- That’s a first point, everyone can have an off year or just stagnate before a new upward cycle. What would have been more interesting is including Skjelmose’s performance into the discussion, things have also been expected from him after several performances in the past but he hasn’t really progressed either, his TdF was basically what you would have expected but he’s 26 and been kind of stuck at this level for at least 2-3 years. Maybe he’s a late developer or maybe he needs something to change but as manager I’d be just as demanding and worried about both. Perhaps the recruitment concept was to have enough talent so at least one every year would be in shape and they’ve just been unlucky. Don’t want to rub it in but you could even say Mads lost a notch, so is it the riders or is it more to do with the team?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Bingo...I was also going to say that young pretty women are obsessed Pogi fan girls... who are chasing him. All glossy "____" (blank) about Tadej. PS: You can all fill in the "blank" yourselves, whatever you prefer. The definition of glossy is: It looks unusually shiny, glazed over, watery, or vacant/unfocused.PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- Are you able to discuss ANYTHING without making a reference back to your Special 1? It’s almost as if you’re paid by his marketing team to improve his ranking in search results.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
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"Last Sunday we got beaten, but we were also super strong as a team, we blew the race apart, we will use this strength also in the last week" Wout Van Aert said Visma | Lease a Bike will not give up on winning the Tour 🇧🇪 #TDF2024
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