Something is creaking. Maybe it's the necessary adjustment of the first stages, maybe the conditions aren't as hoped, but certainly la Jumbo Visma which yesterday left Van Aert alone in the pursuit of a possible stage victory seemed different from the cohesive and infallible battleship of 2022. Wout (at the top of the Jumbo-Visma photo) deserved more help.
Ever since Pello Bilbao attacked on the descent of the Alto de Jaizkibel, the Belgian found himself leading the chase in personThe same thing happened when the attack came from Pidcock and then Skjelmose. Vingegaard was there, but (rightly) didn't move. And so Wout had to close the gap himself, wasting the energy he lacked in the sprint. He had Benoot and Keldermann at his side, but they were caught unprepared or at the back of the group. Since Kuss also lost his wheels on the climb (Sepp raced the Giro and it is credible that he started the Tour still having to grow), It would be worrying to find yourself with teammates short of legs already on the second day. An unprecedented and incredible problem, given the millimetric precision of the Dutch team in everything they do.
Jonas's words
Even stranger they sound Vingegaard's statements after the stage, when the apparent disconnect in the team was pointed out to him. It wasn't his job to work for Wout, even if perhaps a half-stretch in the final wouldn't have sapped his energy to win the Tour and would have been a good investment in view of the efforts that will certainly be required of the Belgian in the continuation of the race.
"I'm happy with my form," he said yesterday at the finish line in San Sebastian. "I'm where I wanted to be, but today we came to win. I think I did everything I could for Wout. I could have been selfish and gone with Pogacar on the descent, but I didn't give him any changesI did what I had to do to help Wout. It's not entirely fair to say I didn't do what I had to do. We have different goals, but we're all very disappointed, me too. We really wanted him to win today.. But lafay He was really impressive, with a good attack, we couldn't catch him and he deserved the victory."
Wout's outburst
After arrival, Van Aert banged his fist on the handlebars, threw his water bottle on the ground and took refuge on the bus., after having forcefully leaned his bike against it. Then, after showering, he stepped out with his hat turned inside out and a forced smile. He did not make any statements and asked to be taken to the hotel with the flagship. Even in this case, there may be nothing behind it: leaders may just want to gain time beyond the protocol. Could this be the case?
You can miss a race and so far the Belgian has always shown that he knows how to play the game, commenting on every defeat. Such a dramatic reaction makes one think that something has gone wrong.The dynamics of the sprint itself were paradoxical. While Lafay was biting into the final meters, Keldermann and Benoot didn't have the legs to try to close and Van Aert himself, certainly tired, hesitated too long before leaving. It's probably too early to talk about betrayal, but if banging his fist on the table is a way to demand that he get back what he has always done for the team, then Wout chose to be clear from the start.
«Total nonsense – says sports director Grischa Niermann – if anyone made a mistake, it was me. My goal was for Vingegaard to be right behind Pogacar, to stay with him in the sprints and lose as little as possible with time bonuses. When Lafay attacked, it wasn't Jonas's job to take the lead. It was my choice to tell Tiesj and Wilco to try to bridge the gap».
2023 (so far) opaque
In addition to all this, it should be noted that Not all years are the same and the 2023 Van Aert is a distant relative of last year's prodigyWe noticed this right from the first races and in the major classics. After a cannibalistic season in cross-country, in which he enjoyed winning a remarkable number of races (9 victories out of 14 races), Wout showed up at the start of the road season convinced that he had recovered as usual, but this was not the case.. And Van der Poel, who this year adopted a more cautious tactic, beat him in the cross-country world championships then at Sanremo and Roubaix (which he won both) and at Flanders, where Pogacar did better than both of them. Perhaps the continued growth of the level requires choices in the programs or maybe in the run-up to the Tour, Van Aert followed different paths: for example Some people keep saying they see him much thinner than in the past: was this a well-considered choice given the mountains ahead?
Only the riders and the Jumbo-Visma staff know what they actually are. relationships behind closed doors, but what we saw yesterday certainly clashes with the infallible war machine of 2022. For now, in a theoretical clash between teams, the UAE Emirates he is leading the game with greater conviction. But the Tour has just begun, there will be time for reversals and rewritesIn the meantime, it would be a good idea to apply a few drops of oil to eliminate any excessive creaking.
