Wout van Aert "thrilled" with spectacular win at Bretagne Classic

Wout van Aert is building his route into the World Championships, and one of the bigger tests was at the Bretagne Classic where the large distance and explosive terrain was a big challenge for all riders.

“It was a tough day for our team. Although racing was challenging since other teams alternated attacks," Van Aert said in a post-race interview. Jumbo-Visma did not have their regular support for the Belgian, and so when the race entered it's decisive section with 30 kilometers to go, van Aert had to go on the attack himself to bring back the gap to the large attacking group that went up the road earlier.

Van Aert attacked and chased the group alone, and then inside the final 10 kilometers he attacked once again, but most importantly he responded to several attacks from the likes of Valentin Madouas, Jan Tratnik and Benjamin Thomas without the support of his team and little from rivals. Several max efforts would've seen most with no legs for a sprint, but in the slight uphill dash to the line van Aert still had a strong kick, enough to bring in the victory at the French classic,

"I felt good in the final. In the sprint, we went into the last hundreds of metres at high speed, but I was in a bad position. I had to regain a few places and, thanks to the others’ speed, I could take the lead," he said. "I am thrilled with this victory".

"After the Tour de France, I took the time to recover. With a few important weeks ahead, it’s nice that the form is slowly coming back," Van Aert concluded. The Canadian classics will be his next step towards the Worlds.