2023-07-03 20:12:29
Anger from the previous day cooled down overnight
By Kevin Kempf and Matthias Seng
Wout van Aert (Jumbo – Visma / left) ran out of space next to winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) in the sprint from Bayonne at the end of the 3rd stage of the Tour. | Photo: Cor Vos
07/03/2023 | (rsn) – After missing the Tour stage win once more, Wout van Aert (Jumbo – Visma) walked past the reporters in San Sebastian on Sunday without saying a word. Shortly following crossing the finish line, he had thrown his drinking bottle on the asphalt in a fit of rage. 24 hours later, the first mass sprint of this tour was not going any better in Bayonne – on the contrary: following a hectic and hard-fought final, in which he collided with stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and then got out of step, van landed Aert even only in fifth place.
His reaction, however, was very different from the day before. “I started the sprint to Jasper’s right. We were sprinting pretty much evenly and then I touched Jasper and on the other side the spectators. That completely lost my momentum. Then in the last 50 meters I don’t have it anymore managed to continue sprinting,” said the Belgian to the Belgian TV broadcaster VTM and reacted to the question regarding a possible complaint as calmly as he was unequivocal:
“No, I think the jury looks at all the pictures very carefully and then makes the right decision. Either way I don’t win because a few other guys also finished before me.”
Already at the start of the 3rd stage, the 28-year-old answered questions from Belgian journalists and talked regarding the events in San Sebastian, which caused such a stir in his home country. His helpers had given everything there to stifle all breakaway attempts in the final, but once morest Victor Lafay’s last and decisive attack Jumbo – Visma was powerless and van Aert only remained second behind the Cofidis professional.
Van Aert was “angry with the situation,” not Vingegaard
After that, the criticism, especially in Belgium, was directed at Jonas Vingegaard, who had not participated in the stage final in the pursuit of the Frenchman. There was also speculation that van Aert’s angry gestures at the finish line might have been aimed at his Danish team-mate. But the nine-time Tour stage winner denied that before the 3rd stage.
“I was angry regarding the situation. If you narrowly miss out on victory, that’s very disappointing, especially on the Tour. This year there have been a few big races that have gone wrong at the last moment and it would have been great to win such a tough stage. That’s all there is to it,” van Aert told journalists from Wielerflits, among others.
The Dutch cycling portal also asked van Aert’s teammate Nathan van Hooydonck regarding the criticism from Belgian journalists and fans. The media reported a potential conflict between the two stars of the team, and Vingegaard was downright hostile on social media. “We’re not going to let that get to the team, that would be the worst thing we can do. We talked a lot, but Wout wasn’t angry at anyone in particular. He was just really disappointed, which is normal,” said van Hooydonck.
Van Aert sees room for improvement
Van Aert also appeased: “It’s normal on the tour that everything is made bigger than it is. Yesterday we looked once more to see what we might have done better – by the way, we always do that, regardless of whether we win or lose.” its captains and van Aert gave different statements on this point.
“We mightn’t have done much differently. Today is a new day and we will try once more”, said van Hooydonck before the 3rd stage. Van Aert, on the other hand, did see room for improvement: “There were things that we should have done differently, but those are things that you can only judge once they have happened. It’s difficult to determine everything in advance,” said the three-time cross world champion.
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