Winning recovery for Wout van Aert: the Belgian champion won the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday in Beauchastel (Ardèche), and proved his ambitions for a green jersey at the next Tour de France.
In the sprint, van Aert clearly surpassed three representatives of the younger generation in the first stage, Briton Ethan Hayter, American Sean Quinn and French neo-pro Hugo Page (20).
This step suits me perfectly.accepted the Belgian (27 years old) who removed most of the specialists present in Dauphiné (Bauhaus, Molano and especially the Groenewegen) left on the last hill of the course, before the last 30 kilometers.
I’ve worked a lot these past few weeks in the sprint, explains van Aert who applied for the green jersey in the Tour de France points classification, along with the yellow jersey ambition of his teammates (Primoz Roglic, even Jonas Vingegaard). With his all-terrain profile, he is already positioned as a big favorite in this ranking, as has Slovak Peter Sagan in the past.
In the Rhone Valley, between rain and sunshine, van Aert was very quick to return to success, as he did at the end of February at the start of his season at Het Nieuwsblad. He has not ridden since his third place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 24), at the end of a disappointing classics campaign due to COVID-19 which took him away from the Tour of Flanders and disrupted his approach to Paris -Roubaix (2nd).
I recharged my batteries, van Aert estimated before leaving Dauphiné, in connection with his altitude training course of approximately twenty days, in the Sierra Nevada (Spain). At the end of the event, next Sunday, the Belgian planned to leave without delay, with Roglic in particular, to Tignes (Savoie), for another altitude camp.
The 191.8 kilometer stage, entirely in the Ardèche, put an outsider for the overall classification, Italian Damiano Caruso, at a distance of about a minute and a half. For his compatriot Filippo Ganna, world time trial champion, he was left behind before returning to the final, in the flat.
During the stage, Pierre Rolland, member of a trio of breakaways (along with Bouet and Huys), earned a polka dot jersey for the best climber of the day. Fourteen years after he was brought back safely to his first involvement when he was one of the prospects of French cycling.
It is a symbol of a long and regular career, commented Orléanais (35), double stage winner in the Tour de France, who could leave his current team B&B Hotels at the end of the year. According to compelling rumors of the market shift, he should join the formation of Jean-René Bernaudeau, with whom he had his best years.
Montrealer James Piccoli (Israel Premier-Tech) was in 131st place after a period.
On Monday, the second stage, with a more selective and tedious route, connects Saint-Péray (Ardèche) with Brives-Charensac (Hate-Loire) at 169.8 kilometers.
Source: Radio-Canada
