Wout van Aert shares Olympic Games podium with Evenepoel and Ganna - "Today is confirmation that I am in shape, that the Tour has done me good"

Wout van Aert played down his chances of finishing on the podium of the time-trial in the Olympic Games and that was for good reason. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike struggled over recent months and wasn't able to put in any meaningful time-trial performance that would see him as a big favourite for today. But whatever happens, he's already leaving Paris with a medal.

“I think I am only a few seconds faster than Tarling. We can attribute that to the full wheels (double disk wheels, ed.). Consequently, also to my trainer Mathieu Heijboer," Van Aert said in words to Sporza in a post-race interview. “There was little risk in riding around with those full wheels. I tested it sufficiently and had one hundred percent confidence that it was a good choice. I always felt comfortable on it. We had calculated that it could yield a 17 watt advantage. Which is considerable; if you know that helmets, socks and that kind of thing only make a few watts of difference. Then this was a big gain.”

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It was a risk that he believes payed off. Despite the very difficult slippery and wet conditions, the Belgian favoured aerodynamics despite the loss in stability over the few corners on the course. Van Aert was able to put in a time-trial at the level of his previous years, although he had no idea of it until he crossed the line.

“I had consciously chosen not to receive intermediate times. I wanted to give it my all and look back to see how it had been. I felt and saw from my values ​​that it was the first time in a long time that I had power in a time trial and could keep pushing," he describes. "I was in perfect rhythm until the last five kilometers. After that, I quietly died towards the finish. Just enough to win the medal. I am super proud. It is special to start the Games like this.”

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Van Aert's form was on the rise during the Tour de France, and it is now good enough for him to put in a brilliant time-trial performance: “Today is confirmation that I am in shape, that the Tour has done me good. That is a confidence boost for next week. I will not hesitate to chase the gold there. Last winter I really dreamed of winning a medal in the time trial. It may be ‘only’ bronze, but I think that few can say that, to win a medal in both the road and time trial.”

The road race continues to be the main goal, but this has been a very successful start to his week. “There have been many moments when I couldn’t prepare as I wanted for today. The fact that I finally succeeded is very gratifying. I have now been able to put the fall in Dwars door Vlaanderen in its place. However, I would have liked to focus specifically on this for two months. Because of that fall, that didn’t work out and I had a different preparation. As a result, I had more doubts about my condition.”

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