Van Aert and the Portuguese: Why Visma | LaB-Belg will never back down at the Vuelta

Six times the Tour, zero times the Giro and zero times the Vuelta. Wout van Aert’s statistics will come to an end on Saturday, when he steps off the starting podium of the Vuelta a Espana in Lisbon, Portugal, with good legs and a fresh head. Two days before the race, the always friendly Belgian spoke to the press extensively.

When you think of Van Aert’s season, you mainly think of the violent accident at Dwars Door Vlaanderen. If it were up to the Belgian himself, he could add a great Vuelta a Espana in the next four weeks. Because that’s what he came to Portugal to do: to win, preferably as much as possible. ‘That’s my ambition. Hopefully we can make it a successful Tour that way.

The Belgian is one of a select group of riders to have completed the Tour de France, completed the Olympic time trial and road time trial, and now start the Vuelta a Espana. Only Portugal’s Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), who started the Tour of Spain in their home country, follow him, showing how incredibly dedicated the Belgian is.

Van Aert finds it ‘mentally easy’ to prepare for Vuelta

“In terms of training, it was important to keep the legs at the end of the Tour. It was easy mentally, because I was still hungry. My preparation for the Tour was of course disrupted, so it wasn’t difficult to mentally prepare for the Vuelta.

He doesn’t like the fact that he’s been dry since Corn-Brussels-Corn. It’s been a long time since I won, but in the summer I’ve slowly been getting into my game. I’m looking forward to this win and I see a lot of opportunities in the first week, so hopefully I can start with good legs and be able to win straight away.

Let’s start with the 12km route between Lisbon and Oeiras, which the Visma men | Tourists were exploring on Thursday. ‘On paper it looked straight forward, but in real life it was much simpler. It’s a very fast course, but right away it’s a good opportunity. I want to finish the race as soon as possible, because that could also give me a chance to wear the red jersey later. I’m very excited. It would be great to get the red, but I also want to keep the opportunity realistic after the time trial.’

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Van Aert is man enough to admit that there is already another favourite for the first red jersey: Joshua Tarling of the INEOS Grenadiers. ‘That medal in the Olympic time trial gave me confidence, especially on Saturday. But Tarling is a better competitor than me, especially since it’s a time trial without a lot of technicalities.’

Then we soon reach the stages where the Belgian circled in red. “Stages two, three and five should suit me. It should be possible to check there, so I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I win a stage,” said Van Aert without hesitation.

Anyone who wants to win (as many) stages as possible will automatically win the green jersey. “I want to be good from the start of the Tour, so that I can also think about the points classification later on. It’s definitely in the back of my mind. There are a few sprinters, but there are also very few sprint opportunities. We only pursue that if we succeed at the start.

Then he has to climb all those difficult mountains, but the fan art enthusiasts enjoy that too. Very difficult courseThere are a lot of tough stages on the Tour, and I hardly see any real sprint stages, but I like it. There are a few stages where it will definitely be a sprint, but I would also like them to be heavier. We will start with a nice time trial.

Anyone who thinks that Van Aert will also prepare partially for the Zurich World Cup in the Vuelta is mistaken. “It is not my plan to save energy,” he immediately clarified. “If I am going to save energy, it will be later in the Vuelta. I am here for the results and I have little chance in the World Cup anyway, so I want to take my chance in the Vuelta.

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Visma | Lease a Bike wants to create opportunities for Van Aert

Without Jonas Vingegaard (or Primoz Roglic, as in the past) at the start, the dynamics of the Visma | Rent a Bike is certainly more suited to Van Aert’s wishes. “It’s a different approach than starting the Tour de France with Jonas. It’s good for me that we have teammates to control the route, because that’s what we have to do to create opportunities.

From the sentences you can honestly tell that the Belgian is really looking forward to the Vuelta. “I’m really looking forward to doing another Tour, which was the plan at the beginning of the season. I find it interesting to experience these different conditions,” says Van Aert, who is also preparing for the high temperatures. “Yes, yes.” It has also been nice and warm in Belgium the last few days, so things have gone smoothly in that respect. We have also done heat training for that.

Finally: Nice, all this talk, but how are your legs before the start of the Vuelta in Lisbon? I feel very good. I felt very good in the Games and I did well in training, but it’s hard to say without racing. The feeling is there.