Wout van Aert shares goals over upcoming Tour de Suisse: "I prefer to choose my days and go to the Tour in top form"

After two months of rest and preparation for the second half of the season, Wout van Aert finally starts his second half of the season. The Tour de Suisse sees the Jumbo-Visma headline the team and also the race as he searches stage wins and form.

"I like to switch things up. In the Dauphiné, which I already rode four times, I have achieved good results. Now I also want to discover Switzerland. There is nothing more to it. We'll see if it works out well," Van Aert told Sporza. "I'm aiming for a stage win - there are a few nice stages. Especially in the two time trials, the intention is to test myself. I worked hard on that. In addition, there are a few more difficult stages in between where I can win something."

The eight-day race presents a wide variety of stages including time-trials, bunch sprints and tricky hilly days where the Belgian should be able to contest for a stage win. He'll have tough competition on all fields, as many of the non-climber riders who are preparing for the Tour find themselves here. The GC will not be a goal as he looks to select specific days, as will be the case in the Tour de France.

"The [overall] classification? There are three serious mountain stages and there are still some strong riders at the start here. So emptying myself for a place of honor doesn't really appeal to me," he admits. "I prefer to choose my days and go to the Tour in top form. Immediately after Paris-Roubaix, we worked with the team on possible improvements. In the meantime I have been able to train in the new position for a whole period. Well, it feels very good."

The Jumbo-Visma rider will be teaming up with Wilco Kelderman who will aim for the GC before taking on a domestique role at the Tour. The two have spent large weeks training at altitude in Tenerife, and more recently in the Alps where they stayed at 3000 meters of altitude. Van Aert has also taken the time to work on his time-trial position, which has been changed due to tweaks in the regulations.

"Fortunately, I was allowed to use the exception with my height. Now my arms can be slightly higher. This way I can make myself smaller and better hide my head," the Belgian explains. "Today will be a nice time trial that should suit me. Not super long, but along the water at a high speed. It is also a special finish in a village with cobblestones. I think it will be a game of seconds."

He will however have to face very strong specialists such as home crowd favourites Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger, and also Remco Evenepoel who also returns to competition here. "In the first place, it remains to be seen how Remco will have recovered from his corona infection in the Giro. Hopefully he can leave that behind soon and focus on sports again."

"It might be a duel in the time trials, but it's actually quite simple... We both start at a different time, so it won't change my personal approach. Whether it increases the rivalry for stage wins? There is not really any rivalry. Remco is just an extra opponent to be feared. If he has the legs from his time trial in the Giro, Remco will be the top favorite here," he concludes.