On paper, this 15th stage of Tour de France was a transitional stage before the long -awaited rest day. It was quite the opposite, with a beating drum day led by many runners wanting to take the escape. At the end of this trying step, it is the Belgian champion, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), which has established itself, becoming the 113rd runner to win a stage on each Grand Tour. The training runner UAE Team Emirates-XRG has ahead of his compatriot Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma | Lease A Bike) and French (who thought he had won) Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team). Present within a group at the front, Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease A Bike) came to take 4th place in Carcassonne. The 30 -year -old Belgian spoke to various media on this madness stage.
“It was in block all the way …”
“It was in block all along, and quite chaotic at the beginning”begins the runner of Visma | Lease a Bike. “Especially with the fall where Jonas (Vingegaard) was involved. It was difficult to choose the right tactic, because we wanted to be in the breakaway, but also slow down so that Jonas could come back in the peloton. So it was a bit delicate. I think we got out well, the communication was good. I found myself in the head groups. In fact, we were controlled all day, it was a lot of effort, I was already very tired. After the first two hours to shoot all the time.
I think it was stronger in the climb, so it was good to have it in front of me, I was also able to stay in the group. In the finale, it was played at power, which I get out of it as a heavier runner. Yes, we are still in the race for the podium, it's true. But with the speed at which we are currently riding, it is really difficult to fill a gap from 20 to 30 seconds. You have to be attentive all the time, because it's hard to resume time “concludes Wout van Aert at the microphone of various media.
