Wout van Aert second for the third time at the Tour de France - "You always have that feeling that you are losing. And now my feeling came true"

Wout van Aert has once again shown why his consistency is a feat to behold, however perhaps not what Wout van Aert wanted to feel after today, as the Belgian rode to a second place for the third consecutive time and has still been unable to take a stage win.

"That's a nice balance after today, but I'm missing it again. This time I had it in my own hands. I got a fantastic lead out Chrstiophe Laporte, but I didn't use him enough. We were already past 250 meters and I was afraid to wait too long. That they would come from behind," Van Aert described. Today was another bunch sprint and another opportunity for the Jumbo-Visma rider, one he was close to taking advantage of.

He was third wheel into the sprint. He launched his sprint at the same time as Christophe Laporte, a split-second decision that turned sour for Jumbo-Visma who came home second and sixth. Dylan Groenewegen took the win. “If I use his slipstream more, I will win. It's about centimeters. I made a big mistake there. I already had the feeling that Dylan was past the finish line. You always have that feeling that you are losing. And now my feeling came true.”

“It's really nice to have the yellow jersey. But yes… I am here to win, if you are so short it is still disappointing," the yellow jersey concluded. Nevertheless he managed to take another six seconds which have extended his lead in the overall classification, besides Jumbo-Visma having survived another tense finale.