Tom Dumoulin admits he «did not understand» why Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) followed, and then contributed to, an ambitious attack from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on Stage 10 at the Tour de France. With 50km remaining on the run to Issoire on Tuesday, and the gap to the leaders around three minutes, Van Aert followed a move from his cyclocross rival Van der Poel off the front of the peloton on the long descent to the foot of the final climb. Ad The famous rivals quickly racked up a gap of 45 seconds over the bunch but never closed within two minutes of the leaders, prompting first Van der Poel, and then belatedly Van Aert, to knock off the pace.
Tour de France'I was angry' – New footage shows Van Aert slamming bottle down after Stage 2 failure03/07/2023 AT 13:32 Van Aert's primary objective at the Tour is helping Jonas Vingegaard defend the yellow jersey, prompting criticism for his former team-mate Dumoulin. «I don't understand it at all. I still understand from Mathieu that he will play a bit and drive on for a while.
Wout is accidentally in his wheel, but then takes over and continues to drive. I did not understand that,» Dumoulin said on Vive le Velo. «Wout didn't have a good ride.
He really 'threw' his powers. At a certain moment, he had to realise when it was not really necessary. The team might have needed him at a later time.
»If you want to win the Tour with Vingegaard, Van Aert should not actually do this. With one climb to go and 2'30" from the leading group, you no longer have to attack. The chance is minimal that you will join the leading group.
Read more on eurosport.com
eurosport.com
