Regardless of his disappointment, Wout van Aert may solely smile when the query was put to him within the blended zone in Villablino, the place Kaden Groves had simply pipped him to victory on stage 14 of the Vuelta a España.
“In Danish, now we have a saying: ‘The surgical procedure went properly however the affected person died.’ Was it a case of that in the present day?” the reporter requested.
Van Aert took the query within the spirit wherein it was meant. “That is one,” he stated. “I by no means heard it, however for positive I’ll bear in mind it.”
It was, on stability, a succinct option to describe Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike’s afternoon. That they had wagered, appropriately, that Van Aert was climbing properly sufficient to outlive the interminable class 1 ascent of the Puerto de Leitariegos within the finale, and so they minimize their fabric accordingly. The boys in yellow and black saved a robust breakaway inside touching distance all day earlier than setting a brisk tempo on the Leitariegos to dissuade any would-be attackers.
“It wasn’t a danger as a result of we all know he is actually robust on the climbs,” was Cian Uijtdebroeks’ evaluation when he rolled throughout the end. The Belgian had performed a key function in dictating the tempo, even when the Visma MVP was most likely the evergreen Robert Gesink, lining up within the last race of his lengthy profession.
Though Visma’s tempo sufficed to vacuum up the escapees and stop any accelerations on the Leitariegos – “The tempo wasn’t straightforward, I feel I had one thing like 290 watts common energy all day,” stated Uijtdebroeks – it wasn’t sufficient to burn off a variety of dangermen for the dash over the opposite facet, together with Groves, the obvious menace.
Even so, with three wins already to his identify on this Vuelta, Van Aert entered the 60-strong bunch dash with justifiable confidence. On the gently rising ending straight on Avenida Gancedo, he kicked kind of in unison with Groves, however he was nearly outmatched by the Australian within the final 50 metres.
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“Clearly I really feel dissatisfied due to the teamwork we confirmed. Lacking out on the win is a tough capsule to swallow,” stated Van Aert. “To be sincere, I believed the climb can be a tiny bit more durable, however it was a very shallow one. It is by no means straightforward, however it was fairly straightforward on the wheels. The sprinters weren’t dropped, however I used to be nonetheless assured that I may do my finest dash and attempt to end it off. However then once I got here to the final 50 metres, I cramped, and Kaden was a tiny bit stronger.”
Van Aert continues to guide mountains classification
Van Aert has had an all-action Vuelta thus far, as testified by his two visits to the rostrum in Villablino on Saturday night, first for the inexperienced jersey of the factors classification after which to don the polka dot jersey of the king of the mountains. He downplayed the thought, nevertheless, that his efforts in chasing factors had blunted his velocity right here.
“Possibly, however alternatively I feel Kaden had fairly a tough day yesterday within the breakaway,” Van Aert stated. “With hindsight, it is at all times straightforward to win races. Seeking to in the present day, I feel we did superb. It was a race that no different crew dared to manage. We did it, we made it a dash. Once more, it is only a pity that I could not end it off, however it was very nice teamwork.”
His virtually unintentional curiosity within the king of the mountains competitors has been the topic of some debate in his native Belgium, with former nationwide coach José De Cauwer suggesting on Sporza that Van Aert ought to overlook concerning the polka dots and save his power for his tilts on the European and world highway titles within the coming weeks.
Van Aert would possibly fairly retort that he has ample time to get well after the Vuelta. Moreover, after a season compromised by the crash that ruined his Classics, he has the air of a person keen merely to get pleasure from his clearest run of luck and finest run of type of your entire marketing campaign. In any case, he was capable of decide up most mountain factors on the Leitariegos with a minimal of effort.
“The mountains factors had been fairly without cost there, so it is good,” stated Van Aert, who now has double the factors of second-placed Marc Soler within the mountains classification. He was much less enthusiastic, thoughts, about chasing extra factors by getting within the break on the highway to Cuitu Negru on Sunday. “Now I really feel drained from all my efforts within the final week. I’ll see tomorrow, however I feel it is going to be extra a day of counting all the way down to the remaining day.”
By Van Aert’s reckoning, stage 17 to Santander might be his subsequent alternative to chase victory and by that time, he would possibly have already got mathematically secured the factors classification. On Saturday night in Villablino, nevertheless, his ideas had been just for the possibility that had simply handed him by.
“Ideally it could have been higher if we had been capable of journey a bit quicker on the final climb, however we had to make use of all of our guys to convey again a powerful breakaway, which is regular on a day like in the present day,” Van Aert stated. “So we could not have accomplished a lot completely different. The one one who wanted to be stronger was myself.”
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