Wout van Aert: ‘We are on the right way’ for the Tour de France
Belgian star will be chasing stage wins and the green points jersey as Jumbo-Visma tries to finally win yellow jersey at the Tour.
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BONNEVILLE, France (VN) — Wout van Aert was back to his best Sunday at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and helped turned the screws in the final stage to set up Jumbo-Visma‘s knockout punch.
The Belgian star won two stages and the green points jersey, and helped Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard finish first and second on the final podium in what he hopes is a preview of the Tour de France.
“It means we are on the right way,” Van Aert said at the line Sunday.
“It’s super motivating, and it gives a lot of confidence to finish off a week in the Dauphiné like this. This is one of the hardest stage races of the year.”
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Jumbo-Visma roars out of the Dauphiné with three stage wins, the overall and second place, Van Aert’s green jersey as well as the team prize.
On Sunday, the team put the finishing touches on its Dauphiné masterpiece.
The team worked to reel in a dangerous breakaway, and then fractured the GC group to set up Vingegaard and Roglič to ride hand-in-hand across the line.
“The whole team was super strong. I think yesterday that Jonas and Primož showed they were the strongest uphill, so that’s why we wanted to create the situation to go for the stage win today,” Van Aert said.
“We had to chase hard the whole day, but everyone was ready to give 100 percent, and they finished it off in a beautiful way.”
Van Aert is going to the Tour with double ambitions. First, he will try to help the team beat back Tadej Pogačar and win the yellow jersey. And he will be chasing stage wins and the green points jersey.
Van Aert is a true believer coming out of the Dauphiné.
“It’s hard to say if Primož is improving because he doesn’t have much to improve. He’s won three times the Vuelta, but he was unlucky a few times in the Tour,” he said.
“The strength of the team is even a bigger advantage than in the last years, and I believe this will be key in the Tour this year.”