The Belgian has looked dominant at times in the Tour’s first week and looks likely to be involved in the final overall battle
On Wednesday’s cobbled stage across northern France, Van Aert put in another display of strength but this time at the other end of the race after a crash 20km before the first section of. He regained the peloton and spent the final kilometres chasing hard to keep Vingegaard in the race by limiting his eventual deficit on Pogacar to 13sec.
Tadej Pogacar , wearing the leader’s yellow jersey, and Wout Van Aert chat before the Tour’s eighth stage in Dôle.In the UK, fans will recall his dominance in last year’s Tour of Britain. In Belgium, fans note that he comes from Herentals, the town of Rik Van Looy, the “Emperor” who ruled the roost in one-day racing in the 1960s.
“He was never out of the front 15 for 80km, he was really impressive. It’s like we are all schoolboys alongside him,” said the Frenchman Guillaume Martin. Yorkshire’s Tom Pidcock just said: “He was playing with our balls.”