Belgian Wout van Aert As he crossed the finish line on the fourth stage of the race, he waved his arms as if he wanted to fly. Tour de France He wore a yellow jersey and was one row away from victory three days later.

“Yellow jersey gives me wings, I felt like I was flying for the last 10 kilometers”‘ assured the Jumbo cyclist, who won his sixth victory in the French round, for the first time in the leader’s jersey.

It was a show of strength that surprised the entire peloton, including his team, whose two leaders were aiming to buy time in favor of Slovenian Primoz Roglic and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard.

But the former did not react to Van Aert’s initial acceleration as he climbed the Cap Blanc-Nez hill in the fourth category, and the latter could not withstand the Belgian’s speed and soon fell off the hook.

“I didn’t expect to be alone at that moment. Reaching the finish line seemed impossible to me, but when the leaders said it was safe, I gave it all.”

Van Aert said he never lost faith that he would raise his arms, despite the top three second places.

“It’s normally said that the third time is the charm, but I had to wait for the fourth. But I was the most patient and faithful in the team, I knew this moment would come.”

“This victory is an incredible thing. I only had 20 seconds and that’s nothing against the whole peloton. But I started it. ‘I’m tired of taking risks in the sprint, it’s better to win alone like that,’ said the Belgian, who won on many different terrains in the Tour.

“This was a scene that’s been in front of us for a long time, we knew it was tough. The plan was to try something for Jonas or Primoz in general if there’s wind,” he said.

So they sped up on the final climb, but the initial plan turned into something else as their leader didn’t follow the wheel and the comeback turned an attempt to destabilize the race into wet powder.

Van Aert had a free hand to achieve victory and consolidate the leadership he had considered tentatively, but also the regularity jersey he wanted to take to Paris.

But above all, the Belgian knows that this is due to the team and that in Jumbo, one of the biggest budget formations in the peloton, the target is for one of his men to come to Paris in a yellow jersey. It has taken second place in the last two editions.

This is happening by destabilizing Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, and this Wednesday’s stage with eleven cobbled episodes could be the first opportunity to try it out.

“It’s hard to predict how the stage will develop. Most importantly, Jonas and Primoz are not in danger. For us, this is an opportunity to achieve something for me and for those who are fighting for the overall classification. Half.” The team includes riders from the classics who are used to pavés. It makes me happy to have such stages,” he said.