Tom Dumoulin did not praise Wout van Aert for the first time after the last mountain stage of the Tour de France on Thursday. The Belgian rode almost the entire final climb in front of yellow jersey carrier Primoz Roglic and also won the sprint for third place.
“Wout was great again”, Dumoulin laughed after the finish of the eighteenth stage in La Roche-sur-Foron. “That guy can do anything. Sprint, climb; whatever you ask him, he’ll do it.”
Jumbo-Visma also had everything under control in the last ride through the Alps. After work by Robert Gesink and George Bennett in the first part of the stage, Van Aert took the lead on the terribly steep Montée du plateau des Glières, the last climb of the day. The Belgian made sure that only a very small group remained. Top players like Adam Yates and Rigoberto Urán had to release.
Van Aert was also responsible for neutralizing an attack by Mikel Landa, the number seven in the standings for Wednesday’s stage, after a few kilometers. “The intention was that we would not react abruptly to attacks,” said Van Aert. “That was a good plan afterwards, because the final was still a long time.”
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Primoz Roglic is almost certain of the overall victory. (Photo: Pro Shots)
‘We have driven again as a team’
A kilometer from the top of the Glières, the race exploded in the group of favorites. Dumoulin and Van Aert had to drop out, but with Sepp Kuss Roglic still had one servant with him. “That was excellent,” said Dumoulin. “It was another great team performance and a great day.”
After the final climb it was still more than 30 kilometers to the finish and in that part Van Aert and Dumoulin managed to return to Roglic and Kuss. Since there was still a third place and therefore bonus seconds to be earned on the line – the INEOS Grenadiers duo Michal Kwiatskowski and Richard Carapaz held out from an early breakaway – Jumbo-Visma decided to put Van Aert in position for a sprint. The Belgian easily took third place.
“Primoz is fast, so we were confident that he could finish third, but it was safer to go for Wout,” said Dumoulin. “So I did a small lead-out for Wout and of course he won that sprint.”
In the end, Jumbo-Visma had four riders in the first eleven of the day result and Roglic is still 57 seconds ahead of the number two in the rankings Tadej Pogacar.
“We have as a team again punishment driven, but that is no longer a surprise after the past weeks. We have been riding on one the entire Tour keihoog level “, says Van Aert.” Now we have to stay out of the danger zone tomorrow and then it will be up to Primoz on Saturday to finish in the time trial. “
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