Wout van Aert targets the breakaway in Tour de France stage 6: "I hope to go for it today and tomorrow”

Wout van Aert is clear about his intentions for stage 6 of the Tour de France: he wants to be in the breakaway, and he sees this as a real opportunity. Clearly, the Belgian is ready for a fight, but knows he will need to reach the final kilometres without the current yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, at the finish, if he is to stand a chance.

"I hope to go for it today and tomorrow," Van Aert said at the start. "I think almost everyone in the peloton agrees that you shouldn't ride with Pogacar to this finish. That's why I expect a big battle for the early breakaway. That applies to me too. I feel good. We'll see if it's good enough."

Thursday’s stage has long been a target for the Belgian, who has been gradually riding into form after a spring marred by injury and illness. He deliberately rode within himself in the time trial in Caen, prioritizing recovery and long-range goals over a result. “I'm optimistic and expect my patience to yield a real chance at success one of the next few days,” he said after stage 5. “My chances usually improve as a Grand Tour progresses and the rest of the peloton becomes more tired.”

Van Aert is still chasing his first Tour de France stage win since 2022, when he won a time trial as well as other stages. That gap partly reflects his changing role, but also the fine margins of Grand Tour racing. In 2025, he's navigating a return from a challenging crash at last year’s Vuelta, and a difficult spring that included the Giro d’Italia and a recent illness that left him short of peak condition at the Tour’s start.

Despite a disappointing day for Team Visma | Lease a Bike in the time trial, where Jonas Vingegaard lost over a minute to Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, Van Aert insisted morale remains intact.

“We stayed calm,” he said. “It wasn't the result, but we can't do much else but keep believing. It's a minor setback, but we've also had some rides where things went really well. So, chin up and keep going.”

Van Aert has been searching for his tenth Tour de France stage win for three years now. On stage 2 of the Tour, he had to watch on as his rival Mathieu van der Poel ended his own four year wait for a stage win, can Van Aert follow in his footsteps now?