Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma lost the yellow jersey on stage 6 of the Tour de France, but he went down swinging.
Defence would be the ordinary modus operandi of the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, especially on the longest stage of the race, which also happened to be largely flat. But Wout Van Aert is no ordinary rider.
After five days in the thick of the action, the Belgian was at it again on the long road to Longwy on stage 6, heading up the road in the day’s breakaway after countless attempts to prize open the race in the opening 75km.
After dropping Jakob Fuglsang and then Quinn Simmons, Van Aert ended up alone at the head of the race with 25km to go in the 220km stage, a full peloton going all-in in a strained effort to catch the fugitive yellow jersey. It was quite a sight.
Wout van Aert entered this year’s Tour de France as one of the strongest sprinters, and favourite for the Green jersey – see our full analysis of Tour sprinters above
However, Van Aert’s hopes of a second stage win, having grown faint when rival teams combine to mount a concerted chase in the final 50km, evaporated when he was caught with just over 10km to go. And so did his time in the yellow jersey.
On the run-in the terrain became increasingly punchy and Van Aert was soon dropped from the peloton soon after he’d rejoined it. Human after all.
He crossed the line some 7 minutes 30 seconds after Tadej Pogacar had won the stage, and taken the yellow jersey from him.
“He’s playing with our balls isn’t he?” said Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock beyond the finish line.
“I don’t know what to say to be honest. He’s taking the piss, isn’t he.”
“At this point, nothing with this guy surprises us,” added Pogacar’s teammate Brandon McNulty.
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