Every cycling fan knows that Wout van Aert (28 years old) is a tough guy. Year after year, Van Aart opts for a very busy calendar with a large number of cross-country races in the winter, a long peak in the spring, a summer with the Tour and a strong fall.
Since 2019, July has been all about the Tour de France. Van Aert has won at least one stage every year since.
Won 2 times in 2019 (Team Time Trial and Sprint at Albi), 2 times in 2020 (Privas and Lavour), 3 times in 2021 (on Ventoux, time trial on the penultimate day and in Paris) and also in 2022 a hat-trick (Calais and Lausanne). And the trial of the hour in Rocamadour).
This streak (9 singles wins, 1 TTT) will now end with his fifth participation.
Van Aart was close several times in this edition, but in San Sebastian and on Mont Blanc he finished second. In Limoges and on Tuesday in the time trial he came third.
Even more impressive is that for the first time since July 19, 2019, Van Aert did not finish the race he started.
That day he crashed during the trial in Pau. Van Aert stumbled over a subsequent barricade and was carried off with a deep cut to the body. He would not compete again that year.
However, Van Aart soon returned to his old self and sang it through every race to the finish. So far, no DNF (quit) or DNS (not started) logs anymore.
The statisticians were there like chickens in Bourg-en-Bresse: after 171 days of racing, the list stopped. Exactly 4 years after Bao.
