Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) expressed his disappointment at missing out on the stage 18 victory at the Tour de France where he finished ninth on the day after being part of a large breakaway on the roads to Barcelonnette.
The Belgian said that while he felt like a marked rider among the 37-man breakaway, he refused to use that as an excuse and was simply not able to respond when Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked over the last ascent of the day, Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées, with Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and eventual stage 18 winner Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny).
"It's a shame apparently everybody knows my number... No, It would be really silly to point that out as an excuse," said Van Aert with a laugh. "I know it's hard to win from the break for everyone, and I have to say when Kwiatkowski went, he was strong, and I was kind of on the limit on the top of the KOM.
"But yeah, it's a shame that afterwards, it was actually the first moment of the race when I thought, 'Now I have to gamble a bit.' We were into the most easy part of the stage. So, I said to Bart [Lemmen] to jump with the counterattacks, and I was sitting a bit in the back and came down the descent, and everything was over."
The breakaway split after the final climb with about 35km remaining after an initial attack by Kwiatkowski. Campenaerts and Vercher bridged across to the Ineos Grenadiers rider, and the trio succeeded to the finish line, 22 seconds ahead of a chase-group sprint of six won by Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek).
Van Aert won the third sprint on the road for ninth place at 37 seconds back, once again missing out on victory. Although he has not secured a stage win, he has had two second-place finishes and four top sixes at this Tour de France.
His last stage win came at the 2022 Tour when he won the stage 20 time trial ahead of teammate Jonas Vingegaard into Rocamadour. He'll have to wait another year to add to his nine Tour stage wins, with the trio of remaining stages all for the GC riders.
He said that he had been pleased with his form, particularly approaching the Olympic Games and that he is not looking to the stage 21 time trial at the Tour de France.
"[I'm] happy. It's really progressing in a good direction, and especially today, I felt really good," he said.
"The focus is not really on the time trial. The Olympic Games are coming up soon. Sunday will not be a real rest day, but one with an eye on next week."
Van Aert and Remco Evenepoel will compete for Belgium in the elite men's time trial on July 27 at the Olympic Games. He will then lead a strong Belgian squad alongside Evenepoel, Tiesj Benoot and Jasper Stuyven for support in the elite men's road race on August 3.
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